Destined and Doomed
by 18087
Summary: The Marauders are back for their 6th year, and expect nothing to have changed. But things have; there is a new Slytherin student and there is something about Harrison Peters that is drawing Sirius in.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor any associated works or products etc. I'm sure by now you all know the drill. **

Destined and Doomed

Sirius Black stared in horror at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. "Prongs, Prongs!" he hissed to the boy with messy hair sitting next to him trying to grab his attention, however James Potter aka Prongs was indulging in his favourite past time; starring at one Lily Evans. Remus Lupin who was sitting opposite them snickered, and then promptly pretended to cough when Sirius turned to glare at him. As James continued to gaze at the object of his affections who was seated several places further down the table, Sirius decided that it was time to resort to drastic action and so, in his infinite wisdom emptied the nearest jug of pumpkin juice over his best friend's head.

"What the hell Sirius?" spluttered the now sopping James. Lily Evans, upon hearing his rather loud outcry, finally turned to look at him and then bestowed upon the unfortunate boy a look of pure contempt before flicking her long red hair over her shoulder and turning decisively away from him. James sighed. Sometimes he couldn't help but wonder what he could have possibly done in a past life to land him with the dubiously sane Sirius Black and so glared at his friend.

Sirius Black noted none of this however. He was, as usual, blissfully oblivious, and now that he was certain that he had his best friend's attention he started in on the latest problem with the world and pointed towards a boy at the Slytherin table. "Look! There's another bloody one! Another wanna-be Death Eater in the school!"

This statement had the desired effect, as James stopped glaring and followed Sirius' gaze, and sure enough there was a new boy at the Slytherin table. He was handsome; in a cold, calculated sort of way. He was tall, lean, muscular, had pale skin, an angular, aristocratic face and straight black hair that fell to his shoulders neatly. But it was the boy's eyes that made James weary; they were a hard, cold, impenetrable emerald green. They were the eyes of someone who had seen too much, and had learnt the hard way that weaknesses could be exploited, and so had learnt to shut down all facial expressions. The result was that this boy looked more like a statue – admittedly a statue of a fallen angel with his looks – than a human being. James had seen that look before on the faces of some of the aurors who worked with his dad, usually the ones who had been tortured.

Before James could express his opinion on the subject however, Dumbledore had risen from his seat and began his start of year speech; "Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts. Although outside our walls a war may rage, I ask that you try to leave the conflict out of the classroom. For those of you who are starting your final two years there is a duelling club that I would recommend that you all attend. Self-defence is a valuable skill in these dangerous times." Dumbledore paused and allowed his piercing blue eyes to sweep the crowd before continuing. "Finally we have a new student this year; Harrison Peters, he was sorted earlier into Slytherin and shall be joining us for his final two years. I wish you all the best for the year and I suggest a good night's sleep before your lessons begin tomorrow. Now, off you go."

As Dumbledore returned to his seat the students stood up and began to file out of the hall. "Look!" Sirius hissed for the second time that night and again pointed towards Harrison Peters. James turned and his heart sank. There was Peters in the company of the Lestrange brothers, Nott, Snape, Malfoy and Avery. These were possibly the worst of the Slytherins. They were easily the most violent, but also the most likely to join the new Dark Lord. As the Marauders watched Peters, with a dangerous grace, stood and headed, with his new friends, towards the doors.

The Marauders made their own way back towards the Gryffindor dorms giving each other dark looks. Surprisingly, when they had reached the safety of their dorms, it was Remus who offered his opinion first. "We avoid him".

Sirius rolled over and stared disbelievingly at him. "You're joking Moony! He's a Slytherin! And he was hanging around with Snivellous! He deserves a start of term prank!"

James looked at Remus. He rarely offered such a firm opinion. "Why Moony?" he asked.

Remus looked tense and then offered in a hard voice "Moony sees him as dangerous. But not fightable dangerous; when I met his eyes, only for a moment, Moony reacted, and he wanted to flee and hide." Remus met each of their eyes to convey his sincerity. "No one has that effect on Moony. Not even this new Dark Lord. Whoever this kid is, he is dangerous. Moony was reading the signs all over the place; the way his face was expressionless, the way he held himself, the way he walked. It would be in our best interests to avoid him." Having said his peace Remus got into bed.

"Wormtail?" asked James

"I say avoid him." Peter's voice quivered dangerously "There was something in the way he looked at me – like he wanted me dead. Then his eyes went all hard and empty – I don't know which was worse".

"Pads?"

Sirius seemed to be carefully assessing his answer. This uncharacteristic behaviour caused the other three marauders to focus on him. "I...I'm not sure. When...when I walked into the hall something about him drew my attention. It wasn't normal. It was...it was like my magic recognised him... like I wanted to be possessed by him". Sirius shuddered and shook off the glazed look that had taken over his eyes. He then turned directly to James and looked him straight in the eyes; "I'll try to avoid him, but I'm not sure that I'll be able to. But..." Sirius paused for a moment and looked uncertain before continuing "Don't leave me alone with him. I just have this feeling that if I'm alone with him something...something will happen".

The marauders sat in silence for a while longer, before they all, by mutual agreement got into bed and tried to get some sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Over the next week the students of Hogwarts noticed a change in the marauders and their pranks; they were less frequent, and when they did occur they were aimed at the entire school instead of being targeted specifically at the Slytherins. This confused many of the students, as the marauders still seemed to be as anti-Slytherin as ever, demonstrated by the many loud rants in the Gryffindor common room most evenings. Rumours as to why this had happened flew thick and fast around Hogwarts and all varied wildly. The majority of the Hufflepuffs appeared to suppport the idea that the Slytherins had ambushed the marauders the first night back and there was an epic duel – which the marauders had lost badly and were now too scared to retaliate.

Unsurprisingly Sirius Black was outraged and appalled by this idea, as the entire Gryffindor common room had found out; many were still nursing damaged ear drums. The Ravenclaws however felt that it was more likely that Potter's parents had disciplined him over the holidays, and as the leader of the group, James had then insisted on a wider range of targets in order to nullify any bullying accusations. James himself wasn't quite sure what to make of this rumour; he was pleased that people saw him as a leader, mildly concerned that he was seen as a bully and righteously indignant that his fellow students thought that his parents would be able to make him change his ways if he didn't want to.

However it was the Gryffindor rumour that had caused the most anger; indeed it had become apparent that their own treacherous house thought that Sirius had a crush on the new Slytherin, and as such had begged the marauders to go easy on the entire house. When Sirius Black, ladies man of Hogwarts, had heard this theory he had screeched his fury before leaping at the lion who he believed to be the source of the rumour arms outstretched and was intent on strangling his victim before the other marauders had finally managed to pull him back and drag him, still screeching, up to their dorm.

All of this led to four very tired and grumpy marauders being seated at the breakfast table that Friday morning. Remus was in a particularly foul mood as he felt that his sensitive hearing had been permanently damaged by Sirius screeches and following rant and on top of that the next full moon was in three days. And furthermore some ungrateful little sod had drunk all the coffee. Sirius wasn't much happier, and was currently glaring at Harrison Peters and blocking out everyone else. Sadly this only confirmed is the minds of the Gryffindors that Black had a crush and was secretly gay.

As Sirius glared Peters rose gracefully from his seat and left the Great Hall alone. Without realising what he was doing Sirius rose and followed him. He followed Peters through the maze of passages that made up Hogwarts, and that Peters knew surprisingly well thought Sirius suspiciously. Eventually they arrived at the library. Sirius hesitated in surprise for a moment before following Peters in. Striding purposefully around a corner into one of the more deserted parts that was commonly used for snogging, Sirius only just stopped in time.

There in front of him was Peters. He was leaning insolently against Sirius' favourite snogging book case and starring at Sirius with those hard green eyes.

"Can I help you with something Black?"

Meanwhile back in the Great Hall Moony was still lamenting the lack of coffee and Peter was asleep on his plate, but James had managed to wake himself up and had noticed that Sirius was missing. "Damn!" he swore before quickly flicking his eyes around the hall to ensure that Sirius wasn't at another table. He soon noticed Peters' absence and promptly swore again.

Getting up from his seat – while internally lamenting the loss of his breakfast – he hurried off to try and find him. Grabbing the Map out of his back pocket he quickly scanned and activated it. "Damn" he swore for the third time as he finally found Sirius. He was alone with Peters.

Moving as quickly as he could James sprinted off to the library, ignoring Madam Pince's call to slow down. When he finally reached the right part of the large and dusty mausoleum he rounded the corner and froze at the sight that greeted him.

There in front of him was Sirius Black – ladies man of Hogwarts – snogging, no,_ being_ snogged by Harrison Peters. And Sirius, clearly the submissive partner, seemed to be having the time of his life. As he watched he felt Sirius' magic swirl out around him and head for Peters.

"Bloody Damn!" he swore yet again.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Sirius honestly didn't know how it had happened – not that that was particularly unusual for him. One moment he'd been staring at Peters, about to start shouting and blame him – as it was obviously his fault! – for those heinous rumours. However that wasn't what happened. Instead, he'd found himself watching Peters' lips as he spoke with abject fascination and then he'd thrown himself at Peters. He remembered wrapping his arms around Peters' neck and gazing into those green eyes in an oddly submissive gesture before pushing his lips gently onto Peters.

And that was when his brain completely shut down. He had been unable to focus on anything other than those unbearably soft lips, and then he - he the famed seducer – had found himself being roughly shoved up against the nearest book case and snogged within an inch of his life. What was more he had allowed it; he had allowed Peters to be in control and had even whimpered pitifully at the lost of contact when Peters had drawn back for air before pushing himself as close as he could to the Slytherin boy.

_He_ had even initiated the second kiss as he had the first, and he hadn't been able to relax until those wonderful lips had returned to his own. When Peters' tongue had brushed up against his lower lip he had opened his mouth without question. He had moaned when he felt a pair of cold hands slide under his shirt and over his chest and arched into the contact. That was when he felt it; a foreign yet familiar magic – powerful and sensuous – that had brushed against his own and asked him to surrender. And he had, without question or pause, and Sirius felt his own magic swirl out to meet Peters. It was undoubtedly the most amazing experience of his life, and then – Splash!

Through his lust infused brain Sirius heard Peters talk "And to what do I owe this pleasure Potter? Do please inform me as to why you have decided to soak me." Upon hearing the cool voice Sirius' brain began to work again and he pulled himself away from the other boy in abject horror.

As he started and looked around he saw James who looked shocked and concerned. Sirius was mortified and he quickly snuck a quick glance at Peters. What he saw nearly made him lose control again as he noticed how Peters' shirt hugged the nicely muscled chest, and it was only James grabbing his arm a second later that had prevented him from launching himself at Peters again. Without another word James had dragged him from library and through the corridors back towards their dorm and once there he had locked the door and cast several privacy spells.

James turned to stare at his best friend. Sirius was standing where he had left him, unmoving, dripping wet and looking undeniably as though he had just been severely snogged with his swollen lips and scarily vacant expression. However Sirius also looked strangely small and bereft standing there on his own, and unusually for Sirius, saying nothing. Cautiously James moved closer – "Sirius?" He received no answer.

"Padfoot?" he tried again "Are you okay?"

The question seemed to break through Sirius' stupor and he had barely managed to mutter a broken "No" before he had broken down completely.

James stared at a loss for the second time that morning. Deciding that questions could wait he moved forwards and wrapped his arms around his best friend who continued to sob in a strangely broken way. Eventually the sobs quieted and then stopped completely. James waited for a few moments before asking what he really wanted to know; "what happened Pads?"

For a moment he thought Sirius might cry again, but instead it seemed as though he had managed to pull himself together and looked at his best friend through red rimmed eyes and answered hoarsely "I don't know. I...I was so angry about those stupid crush rumours that when I saw Peters leave alone I followed him. He went to the library and when he stopped he spoke to me...he asked me what I wanted. And then I lost control. I just threw myself at him and clung to him. Then _I_ kissed _him_."

James honestly didn't know what to say to that. "Do you want to talk about it?" he questioned hesitantly.

Sirius laughed wildly and choked out "what is there to talk about? I kissed him and I _liked it_. I was snogged senseless by a guy that I don't know who is in _Slytherin_ and could very well be a Death Eater! And worse my magic responded to his! If you had arrived later I could very well have managed to bind myself to him! So what the hell is there to talk about?"

During his talk Sirius had pulled himself out of James' arms and was now standing rigid shaking very badly.

"At least he's good looking" James offered with a weak grin.

For a moment he thought that Sirius was going to hit him, but then he relaxed and let out a weak laugh. "That's true. But then I have always had excellent taste" he boasted

James snorted "Yeah right. Aren't you forgetting Sarah Jordan? She's hideous and you definitely were all over her!"

"I was drunk!" Sirius shouted indignantly, as though James should have known better than to say something so stupid.

James grinned "well you certainly weren't drunk when you went after her troll of a cousin!"

Sirius spluttered in outrage and chased James out of Gryffindor tower break down momentarily forgotten.

By the time the pair of them had arrived at Transfiguration James was purple with yellow spots and orange hair plus a rather fetching red crocodile tail. McGonagall was not impressed and shouted at them for fifteen minutes before putting them both in detention. The world was back to normal - at least for the moment.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock looked expectantly around at his staff. After several moments of silence he decided that perhaps further encouragement was needed. Clearing his throat he asked benignly "Does anyone have anything particular they wish to discuss in this staff meeting?" The silence continued. Albus was surprised; normally the staff had plenty to say after their first week back – often rants about the marauders latest antics or the ongoing civil war between Gryffindor and Slytherin, which tended to end with many staff members trying to remember they had wanted to teach in the first place.

When the continuing silence finally began to become uncomfortable as well as confusing Albus decided to be more specific in his questions; "Minerva, how are the Marauders doing this term?" Apparently this was the right question as suddenly the staff room was full of shouts and rants. Albus surveyed the chaos with mild astonishment as he began to look back over his memories from the previous week. Eventually he came to the conclusion that he must have missed something as he couldn't remember the Marauders doing anything serious enough to warrant this reaction. He was fairly certain that they hadn't managed confund the doorknob that was the guardian to Ravenclaw tower again; that had been a nightmare. He could still remember having to comfort several distraught Ravenclaws as they were refused admittance into their tower until they had managed by chance to guess that the answer to the gibberish it had been spouting was a sparkling crumple - horned snorkack. Xenofilius Lovegood in particular had never quite recovered and now apparently spent his holidays searching for one despite Professor Flitwick's continued assurances that they did not in fact exist.

Dragging himself out of his thoughts he managed to stop the commotion with several loud bangs from his wand. Resettling his glasses he asked, in a weary tone of voice, "what have the boys done now?" Instead of everyone shouting again, as he half expected and dreaded, his staff gave him some very strange looks before Minerva finally offered the answer he sought. "That is the problem Albus. They haven't done anything – well nothing that is up to their usual standards. They have been surprisingly quiet."

Looking around at his clearly traumatised staff Albus asked bemusedly "then why are you all so tense? Shouldn't you be relieved? You've all been begging them to tone it down for years".

Apparently this was a stupid question as they all favoured him with looks that they normally reserved for special students – Gilderoy Lockheart for example. Now Albus Dumbledore believed that very little could truly astound him but the reaction of his muggle studies teacher to this gentle inquiry definitely caught him off guard. To his shock she threw back her head and let out what could only be called a maniacal laugh before screaming "That is just the point! They aren't doing anything! They're lulling us into a false sense of security and then when we least expect it they'll blow us all up! They're hell's spawn just waiting for us to be vulnerable..." At this point she trailed off and began rocking back and forth on her chair and alternating between laughing and sobbing hysterically.

As Albus stared Poppy, the school matron stood and made her towards the distraught woman and then began attempting to comfort her. When it became apparent that her methods weren't working, to Albus' dismay, she simply opened the poor woman's mouth before pouring a vial of calming draught followed by a vial of dreamless sleep down her throat, and once she had passed out Poppy had levitated the unconscious woman's body and had left the staff room without a word floating her patient in front her.

There was silence for a further few minutes as Albus attempted to come to terms with what had just occurred. Eventually he shook his head and gave up and returned his attention to the rest of the staff to find many of them still starring after the poor woman in pity, and in some cases envy. Albus briefly entertained the thought of charging the marauders double fees, they had certainly lost him enough perfectly competent staff members, before once again turning back to the matter at hand.

"So, if I may clarify?" when he received no answer he continued "the marauders have done nothing; absolutely nothing. And this, admittedly rather unusual behaviour, had driven one of my staff members to a mental breakdown." He received several nods as an answer. Deciding that it was probably safest for his mental health not to dwell on these matters he pushed bravely on. "Does anyone here have any theories as to this rather dramatic behavioural shift?"

Again there was silence before Minerva answered again, "There was some doubt among the students earlier this week, but now the general consensus is that Sirius Black is on the verge of a mental breakdown and has lost his little remaining sanity." she paused for a moment before looking around at her colleagues as though begging one of them to continue. None of them did. Minerva sighed and then pushed on "it appears that whichever explanation you hear they all have one thing in common; Harrison Peters." Dumbledore was suddenly very interested. He had planned to bring the boy up at the staff meeting anyway, to see how he was settling in and if they had any clue as to his political affiliations, although as a Slytherin he thought he probably already knew. He gestured for Minerva to continue. She took a deep breath "most of the students believe that Black is in an illicit relationship with Peters, or at least desires to be, and can't cope with the fact that he is gay and dating a Slytherin. As such the marauders have spent their time dealing with Black instead of on causing mayhem."

For a moment Albus thought that his Deputy Headmistress was joking before he caught the serious looks on the faces of the other staff members. Pushing this startling new revelation aside for the moment he asked another question, but this time directed at the Head of Slytherin "Horace, how had Peters settled in? Can you add anything to these rumours?"

Horace Slughorn sighed "He has settled in fine. Surprisingly well in fact considering that he is a half-blood. He has made his way up the Slytherin political ladder with astonishing speed, but doesn't seem to be particularly affiliated with anyone in particular. And before you ask Albus, no, I have no idea if he is a death eater. He has kept his head down and doesn't speak out like Malfoy does, but that doesn't really mean anything. Peters seems to be a shadows person – the power behind the throne as it were. I'd be weary of him if I were you though – he is phenomenally gifted magically, something of a prodigy.

The story that he is telling as to why he is here is that he was homes schooled by his mother in Ireland, but that she was killed shortly after he had taken his O. in a death eater attack. I have confirmed that; there was indeed a Lilya Peters killed in August in Ireland in a death eater attack. He says that he took his O. at the Irish Ministry, which was as you know destroyed, which is why he has only the results that they sent him as proof. That also checks out. A Harrison Peters did indeed sit his exams at the Irish Ministry. His results are exceptional – straight Os – and his magical skills certainly match them. However I have not been able to find any photos of either Lilya or Harrison Peters, and as they lived in isolation, and most of the local communities were destroyed in attacks there is no way to know if the Harrison Peters here is the same Harrison Peters that grew up in Ireland. He certainly doesn't have an accent. As regards Black I don't know. He certainly seems interested him, but beyond that I don't know." Having said his piece Horace leaned back in his chair.

Silence reigned once again while Dumbledore considered what he had been told. Eventually he reached a decision. Gazing once more at his staff he said "Watch Peters as best you can. Report anything of interest. Otherwise I would take the marauders silence as a well deserved break and not worry about them. I am sure that they will be back to their usual antics in no time at all." Having said his piece, eyes twinkling, he swept from the staff room.

After a moment the others followed him debating among themselves which of them would now be gifted with the unfortunate duty of covering muggle studies.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was Monday morning. His time of peace had sadly come to an end mused Sirius as he stared out of the dormitory window. He was very tense; today was the first time he would see Peters since they had kissed – snogged – in the library. This situation had resulted with one Sirius Black being awake at the unusual hour of 5 in the morning, something that he was sure had never happened before. He sighed and rolled over. Peters wasn't really all that good looking he mused. Sure his hair was silky – he tried hard not to remember how nice it had felt between his fingers – and his eyes were a rather unusual colour – a green so deep you could lose yourself in it his brain unhelpfully reminded him – and yes, his lips were very kissable – hang on a minute! Sirius scowled as he realised the direction that his treacherous thoughts were taking and turned over again.

No; Peters was not all that good looking. Sirius thought hard determined to find a flaw in Peters' appearance, but sadly his mind seemed instead to take great pleasure in thinking about how nice Peters' arse had looked when Sirius had followed him. Sirius scowled again. It just wasn't fair! Why did that git have to be so attractive? It was against the laws of nature for Slytherins to be hot. After turning over for the third time he unhelpfully noticed that someone – probably James – had turned his bed hangings green; Slytherin green. They reminded him of Peters' eyes.

That was it. With a furious scowl fixed rather uncharacteristically on his face Sirius gave up sleeping as a bad job and got up. He grabbed a jumper and headed out of the common room towards the grounds dodging both Filch and Peeves on his way. It was a crisp, clear day but cold. Sirius looked around to make sure that no one was looking and then transformed into Padfoot – a large grim like dog. Was he was on four legs he began to run his tongue lolling happily out of the side of his mouth.

About an hour later as he was padding softly along the edges of the Forbidden Forest, feeling much calmer and more like himself, he smelt it. He froze in mid step. The scent was deep and dark, seductive, but there was a strange purity to it, and so without even realising what he was doing he followed it. It led back towards the castle but just deep enough inside the Forbidden Forest that whoever the scent belonged to would not be able to be seen. As the scent got stronger and stronger he found a familiar clearing and there in it was the owner of that scent; Harrison Peters.

Had Sirius been able to think rationally he would have turned and fled, but as it was he was to entranced in that seductive scent that was befuddling his senses, and so without realising it he changed back into Sirius and walked into the clearing. Peters paused in the middle of what appeared to be an exercise routine of a sort and turned to face him.

As Sirius stared into those green eyes the tiny part of his brain that had been screaming at him to turn and ran was silenced. Almost as if he was in a trance Sirius moved towards the stationary Peters. Sirius stopped in front of the Slytherin boy and vaguely noticed that Peters was taller than him, but unlike last time he made no move to kiss the other boy. His mind rather hazily seemed to understand that if this – whatever it was – was going to happen Peters would have to make the first move this time. Peters stared at him for a moment before quirking and eyebrow and raising his hand to run it through Sirius' hair. Sirius whimpered. A crooked smile appeared on Peters' face before Peters used the hand in Sirius' hair to drag him closer and slid his other arm smoothly around Sirius' waist before proceeding to snog him.

Sirius sighed in relief at the contact. He'd missed it he realised and once again he slid his arms around Peter's neck and submitted. Several moments of blissful snogging followed and once again Sirius' magic reached out towards Peters, but this time contact was made. Sirius wasn't sure how much time they spent kissing but breathing he decided was over rated. Then suddenly Peters pulled back. Sirius let out another rather pitiful whimper. Peters smiled and ran his thumb along Sirius' angular cheek bone.

"We should go or we'll miss breakfast" Peters said, and then without another word he turned and walked back towards the castle. Sirius stood there confused, Breakfast? He had entered the clearing at 6:30ish he was sure and breakfast didn't end until 9. He cast a quick tempus charm and froze, 8:30 a.m. appeared before him. He had lost two whole hours. Now no one had ever accused Sirius Black of being bright, but even he could see that something was wrong. You did not just lose two hours kissing. In fact he thought whilst frowning, the entire Peters situation was abnormal.

His mind began to make a list of facts. As he surveyed his list he felt uneasy; whatever was happening was not normal and his gut instinct told him that it was old magic. If he was right then this was very very bad. Still frowning he began to consider who he could consult on the situation. Not the library. The types of books he was looking for were very rare and would only be found in old pure blood libraries, like the infamous Black library. Sirius quickly thought about other pureblood families that might have the books he needed; Malfoy, Avery, Lestrange, possibly Longbottom, Bone, Abbott, Davis, Nott, maybe Greengrass, very maybe Prewitt but not Potter. As Sirius thought of those names he realised that he wasn't close to any of those families and asking permission to use a family library was a deeply personal question. He sighed in frustration and ran a hand through his hair – there was no choice he would have to write a letter to his father.

Sirius winced at the thought of writing to his father. Lord Orion Black was a very proper pureblood, and if he asked for those books which would undoubtedly be in the inner sanctum of the Black library it would be the equivalent of stating that he accepted his place as the Black heir and all that it meant. This wasn't something he'd planned to do, especially as it would mean that he would have to stop living in all but name at the Potters in the holidays – but he needed those books damn it! If there was one rule that all purebloods were taught it was that you should never ignore old magic, it would turn out very badly for all involved.

As Sirius began to walk back towards the castle to draft an urgent letter to his father it hit him. Old magic only affected purebloods – never a muggleborn or a halfblood – which meant two things; Peters was a pureblood not a halfblood as he had assumed, and that Peters could be his real surname as there was no Noble and Ancient House of Peters. This gave Sirius another question to answer, who the hell was Harrison Peters?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Lord Orion Black stared at the owl in front of him in surprise. He would have recognised it anywhere; a rather proud sleek black eagle owl with piercing eyes that had never liked anybody but Sirius and had taken a fair chunk out of his hand when he had, in the past, attempted to take his mail. Today however the bird seemed strangely ruffled, as though it had flown here rather urgently. Gingerly he reached out his hand to take the letter that was attached to the owl's leg and was surprised yet again when the bird made no attempt to attack him. This strange behaviour caused him to worry, and as he was alone in his study he allowed it to show. Sirius never wrote – in fact he hadn't received a letter from his son since his first year when he'd told them that he'd been sorted into Gryffindor and Walburga had sent him a howler. He'd forbidden his wife to do it again, but it had been too late, Sirius who had already been distant from them had cut them both off.

With this in mind he opened the letter in front of him and felt his jaw drop;

_To Lord Orion Black, 27__th__ Grand Duke of Blackmore _

_Father,_

_I'm sure that you are shocked to hear from me, especially as I had all but moved out after my confrontation with mother last summer, but I'm still a pureblood despite my leanings, and as such there are certain things I cannot ignore. Ever since I returned to Hogwarts this year my magic has reacted strangely in the presence of a particular individual. His name is Harrison Peters a 6__th__ year Slytherin, new this year, apparently a half blood. However I am convinced that this cannot be so. _

_Whenever I am near Peters my magic... well it swirls out from around me, my core expands and reaches out to Peters as his magic does to me. It feels like old magic. If there is one thing that you taught me it was to never ignore the old magic and so I am writing to beg for access to the Black Library. I know what this means for me. I know that it will change everything but I was taught that old magic must always be heeded and so I make this request._

_I know that both you and mother wanted Regulus to be your heir, and that if you give me access to the Black Library that would no longer be the case, but I am asking for you to help me. Please write back soon._

_Your son_

_Sirius Orion Black_

Orion Black re-read the letter several times and frowned. The entire situation was worrying, but one line in particular struck him; _I know that both you and mother wanted Regulus to be your heir. _He thought back over his admittedly rather limited interaction with his son to try and remember ever expressing that opinion and came up blank. He would never have said that to his son. He thought hard and a memory presented itself. His eyes narrowed and he hissed in anger. It was time to get to the bottom of this mess. If he was right then at least he could reconcile with his son, because Sirius was the Black heir and Walburga was only his wife by contract.

He stood up and strode purposefully from his study towards one of the reception rooms. He didn't bother knocking, instead he simply strode into the room and snapped "Kreacher!". There was a loud crack and the house elf appeared, but before he had time to speak Orion snarled "find my wife and get her here now". Kreacher immediately left with another loud crack and Orion began to pace. It took nearly twenty minutes for Walburga to sail haughtily through the door but before she could open her mouth Orion snarled "sit".

Walburga surveyed the situation in shock. Orion Black was a dangerous man when angered. He turned to her with a look of pure fury on his face and asked in a dangerously quiet tone "would you like to explain to me why my eldest son believes that I favour his brother".

Walburga froze. How had this happened? How had Orion found out? Attempting to calm herself she replied, "I merely expressed the quite correct opinion that his behaviour was unsuitable for a Black heir and that he would do well to emulate our Regulus."

Orion's eyes narrowed further. "And did you mention that I supported your view?"

His wife shifted uncomfortably. "I may have suggested that – " but she was cut off before she could finish.

Orion's voice shook with rage "You poisoned my eldest son and turned him against me. You encouraged our youngest to be unhealthily arrogant and cruel. You have caused discord in the House of Black; as such I Lord Orion Black decree by magic and my right as Grand Duke of Blackmore that you are placed under house arrest. You shall receive no visitors. You shall have no contact with my sons. You shall use no magic. You are to be moved into the guest wing and you shall stay there unless I give you permission to leave so mote it be." With these words Orion felt his magic bind Walburga to his words as she sat there frozen. If she attempted to disobey the rules that he had set out she would be exiled from the House of Black and be stripped of her magic.

"I am now going to fix all of the damage you have caused this family. Kreacher, move her belongings into the guest wing. Serve her three meals a day but otherwise I order you to ignore her summons" With that Orion turned and stormed out of the room back towards his study to floo to Hogwarts and visit his eldest son.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Flitwick looked around his 6th year NEWT class and frowned. It seemed unusually quiet for a class that contained all four marauders. He remembered Slughorn's look of horror when three of the four marauders had qualified for NEWT potions. But the marauders were clever, he'd give them that, those pranks required a lot of advanced spell work and so he was one of the few staff members who had been unsurprised when Potter and Lupin got good results (Exceeds Expectations and a few Outstandings) but even he had been surprised by Black's results. It had turned out that not only had Black taken the core, Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies, but he had also taken Arithmancy and Ancient Runes through private study. He smiled as he reminisced over the looks of horror on the face of every staff member – bar divination – when they saw that Black had achieved straight Outstandings, and as such could chose to take any of their classes.

As he absentmindedly banished the swarm of wasps that Pettigrew had managed to create with his avis charm instead of the flock of birds he turned to look at Black. As he watched Black cast the charm, silently, and out flew a flock of nuthatches. Flitwick sighed and waited for Black to point them at Potter and start a battle, but to his surprise Black merely surveyed them for a moment before banishing them with another flick of his wand and then – he almost fainted in shock at what happened next – Black looked up at the board for the homework, pulled out parchment and ink and began to work. Flitwick wondered if perhaps he should call for madam Pomfrey; as he looked at Potter it was clear from the look of abject horror on the boy's face that he wasn't the only one.

But before either he or Potter could say anything there was a knock on his classroom door and Minerva entered; "Filius could Mr Black be excused for the rest of this lesson?"

Sirius looked up in surprise and confusion from his half finished essay, but at a nod from Flitwick he put his things in his bag and followed Professor McGonagall out of the classroom. As he looked at his head of house he noticed that she seemed to be rather tense. He wondered what he was going to be blamed for this time and debated asking, but decided instead to wait and see. He strode purposefully behind his head of house until they arrived at the entrance to Dumbledore's office. With a "blood lolly" the gargoyle jumped aside and he was sent up the moving stair case alone. When he reached the top he stepped off the stairs, took a deep breath, knocked and entered. His eyes flew to the Headmaster's desk expecting to see Dumbledore sitting there looking stern, but to his surprise he wasn't there. Someone coughed behind him and he spun round. He froze. It was his father. Before he could say a word his father had crossed the office and to his shock and confusion he embraced him. Sirius stood frozen and inhaled in shock. A familiar scent of books and coffee filled his nostrils and before he realised it he was hugging his father back.

They stood there for a long moment and Sirius relaxed in the paternal embrace. Eventually however he remembered why he was there and so, reluctantly pulled back. "Dad? Why are you here? Is...is this about my letter?" he asked very hesitantly, unwilling to spoil the moment.

Much to his shock his father actually smiled and with a wave of his wand conjured a formal but comfortable looking couch and gestured for Sirius sit as he did himself.

"Sirius...throughout my own childhood my father, Pollux Black, behaved as a proper pureblood. Restrained in public and in private, but as I was a Slytherin and good at reading masks - you have to be to survive in Slytherin - I knew he cared about me. I attempted to emulate his behaviour when raising my own children, leaving it mostly to my wife, and maintaining only formal reactions. What I had never really taken into account is that you were always a Gryffindor child, open and bright, playful, so my actions distanced you from me. It wasn't until I received your letter that I realised how you had taken it and how...other factors...had exacerbated the problem."

Sirius sat there in shock. It couldn't be real. It just couldn't be. He could deal with scorn and coldness, but affection...especially from his father...it was an unknown quantity. As he watched his father reached into his pocket and removed a silver box. Sirius felt his insides freeze. He knew what that box was, no pureblood wouldn't.

Orion smiled gently at Sirius' reaction. He was more nervous than he was letting on; this was the moment of truth. As per pureblood traditions Sirius had to take the box and open it himself. As he watched Sirius reached out his hand as if in a daze and cautiously took the box.

Sirius took a deep breath. If he did this there was no going back. Everything would have to change. He opened the box and was surprised to see that his hands were steady. There it sat; the Black heir's ring. A silver signet with the crest of the Ancient and Noble House of Black engraved. A shield with a grim and a thestral, both in ebony in opposite corners, silver flames – the special magical gift of the Black family – in another, and in the final corner a wand. Slowly he reached into the box, picked up the ring and then slid it onto the fourth finger of his right hand.

Magic swirled around him, thick, dark and pure and when it stopped Sirius felt like he was home. He had never been more in tune with himself and with his magic. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall into his magic, Black magic, and he felt all the members of his family, his brother and cousins. They wouldn't know who he was, just that a Black heir had been chose, and once they had been chosen it was forever. However what shocked Sirius the most was another man that he could feel in the bond, not family but linked to him personally and through him his family. He focused in on the man and felt that he was in Hogwarts, as he focused even harder he realised that the man had become aware and was now heading towards him. He recognised the feel of the magic; Harrison Peters.

Regulus Black was eating lunch in the Great Hall as normal when he felt it; a probe of Black magic feeling for him and claiming authority over him. He knew what that meant, a Black heir had been chosen and it wasn't him. He didn't know what to feel about that. His mother had always said that he would be the Black Heir, but his father had never said anything on the topic and so he had kept quiet.

He felt movement besides him and looked around to see Bellatrix and Narcissa along with Malfoy and the Lestrange brothers sitting down next to him. This was not particularly unusual, the family often sat together but he could feel the subtle tension in their bodies. They too had felt the magic claim the Black heir and had brought their betrotheds to discuss the matter. Cygnus Black had always been more old fashioned than his older brother Orion, and as such when his oldest child Andromeda ran off with that muggleborn he had quickly arranged marriage contracts for his remaining two girls to ensure that they made proper pureblood marriages.

"Who do you think it is?" Narcissa asked in her cold voice.

"I don't know. Father never mentioned who would be heir – only mother, but she has no real say in the decision." Regulus replied nervously. If he wasn't the Black heir, and depending on who it was his status in Slytherin might have just taken a rather large drop. He glanced around the room looking for inspiration and instead noticed Harrison Peters stiffen in his seat before getting up and leaving the hall without a word to anyone.

Thinking of Peters he glanced over to the Gryffindor table where his brother usually sat to see if he followed; Peters had been surprisingly silent on the matter of the Blood Traitor Black, as his brother was known in Slytherin house, despite his unusual behaviour of late. However he stiffened when he realised that Sirius was missing. "No..."

"What?" Snapped Lucius Malfoy

"Sirius isn't here."

All five of them stared at him in shock. It was simply impossible. Sirius Black, indiscreet ladies man, trouble maker, the Black heir?

"But he's an idiot" snapped Bellatrix scornfully

"He isn't" murmured Regulus, and when they all turned to look at him he snapped out "He got 11 outstandings in his OWLs".

His five companions looked gobsmacked.

"Regardless" snapped Bellatrix "your father couldn't have named him Black heir. There has to be another option."

"You know very well there isn't Bella" Narcissa said in a colder voice than usual.

"It is pointless arguing" interjected Rudolphus Lestrange "we'll know in the morning one way or the other".

With this having been said all six of them settled down uneasily and began to eat, ears open for any news and dreading what could only be the truth – that a blood traitor Gryffindor would be the next Black heir.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Orion Black smiled as he watched his oldest son, the new Black heir, adjust to the sudden influx of magic. This is how it should be. Eventually the magic calmed and Sirius opened his eyes, the blue specks in his usually smoky grey eyes prominent and glowing with power.

"He's coming" Sirius all but breathed out.

Orion didn't really need to ask who – it was blatantly honest from the letter he had received; Harrison Peters. Not two minutes late the door to the headmasters office opened and the elusive boy entered the room. Orion felt his breath catch and not because of the magic that he could feel beginning to rise again around Sirius. Harrison Peters was power; it practically oozed from the boy. On top of that Orion had to admit that if anyone could match and beat Sirius in the looks department it would be this boy. His eyes in particular were almost an inhuman green.

He cleared his throat to remind them of his presence, he knew he had to talk quickly before the magic between them ensnared them entirely.

"Harrison Peters I presume?"

Those intense green eyes turned to capture his own "Lord Black" intoned the boy in a deep, smooth and sensual voice as he inclined his head in a gesture of respect.

Clearing his throat again whilst reminding his brain that he had come here for a purpose, he said "I have permission from the deputy Headmistress to take both of you on an outing. I have not elaborated as to why so she knows nothing of the details, and by extension neither does Dumbledore." He added the last bit in response to the sharp look Peters offered him.

"The Department of Mysteries?"

Orion didn't even bother to ask how Peters knew where they were going. Clearly Peters knew more about what was occurring than Sirius did. "Indeed. We shall floo".

Flooing had never been Orion's favourite form of transport as it tended to end in ungainly landings which could potentially be embarrassing. He had never forgotten the time that Sirius had given Regulus a shove as he had entered the floo and thus when Regulus had finally arrived at the Ministry Gala he had tumbled head long into the Minster himself and knocked several nearby fire whiskey glasses over him. That situation had required some fast talking and months of grovelling, something no pureblood enjoyed. However he would rather risk a stumble from a grate than alert all of Hogwarts to his visit. This was strictly family business and should remain so.

As he exited he checked his location to ensure that he had arrived at the right fireplace and then he relaxed; as Lord Black one of the highest ranking purebloods he had direct floo access to the department of Mysteries, and so as not to alert the entire world to his visit had decided to floo straight to his destination.

As Sirius and Peters stepped out of the fire – Sirius stumbling and Peters flowing with his dangerous grace – an aide approached and led them into the depths of the department. Orion had never been this deep into the department before; it was dark and seemed to be endless corridors filled with locked doors. Eventually they arrived at another closed door, identical to all of the others that they had passed, but this one was opened for them and they were invited to enter.

Inside the strangest sight met their eyes; a receiving committee had clearly been assembled when Orion had informed them that he would be visiting. This in itself was not unusual, however the members of said committee certainly were. On the far left sat two goblins, next to them the head of the department of mysteries, and then finally another senior member of the department.

They were invited to sit in the three chairs just in front of them. Orion ensured that he sat between Peters and Sirius, he could certainly do without seeing them lose control and launch themselves at each other.

"We all know why we are here. Let us not waste time going over boring facts. In order to confirm what has happened we need blood from both Mr Peters and the young Mr Black."

Peters extended his arm without question and one of the goblins drew a knife and quickly collected three vials of blood. Sirius quickly followed suit.

The remaining goblin cleared his throat. "The first test will detect any bonds, active or otherwise between the boys. The second a power test and the third an identity and heritage check. If the first test is negative then the others will be unnecessary."

The goblin who had taken the blood brought forwards a shallow metallic silver bowl engraved with runes which glowed red as the first vials of blood were added and mixed. Orion had no idea what the bowl was, but it was clearly a highly magical artefact. As he watched the metal that the bowl was made of seemed to move and undulate with power and then the runes glowed white, then gold, then silver before fading from existence.

Sirius, eloquent as usual muttered "what the bloody..."

"Sirius!" hissed his father cutting him off and giving him an equally amused and annoyed glance.

Peters did not react at all but simply kept his face completely blank. That boy was impossible to read thought Orion in irritation.

Both of the department member and the goblins however shared significant looks before relaxing slightly with what seemed to be relief. However no one spoke so Orion cleared his throat meaningfully. Eventually the official on the far right explained the results.

"The bowl checks for bonds as you know. The glowing of the runes indicates that there is an active but unconsummated bond between these two gentlemen. The white glow indicates that the bond is completely natural and the result purely of their own magic and not outside influences. The gold glow indicates that their magic is completely compatible. Most people's magic is compatible at some level, the gold however indicates that a complete merging between the two boys is possible, and that they would able to combine their magics with the right teachings."

Here the official paused for a moment before continuing, "Usually these factors would be enough to create a minor attraction or perhaps a blood brother bond. However the final glow, the silver, indicates that their souls are capable of merging. But more than that, that they each need to merge to be complete, almost as if each only contained a three quarters of a soul, and so if they had never met could have lived normal but empty lives, never marrying. However now that they have met their souls and magic will refuse to be parted and instead must be combined to create something greater. When they do consummate the bind they will most likely be the most powerful wizards of their generation, which we will confirm with the next test."

Without giving their three visitors anytime to digest this information the next test was administered as the second vials of blood were poured over a piece of parchment. The official looked over the results eyes widening before he spoke again, and everyone in the room listened intently.

"Young master Black has a MPR (magical potential rating) of 192. For a reference point, Merlin is considered to be at the top of the scale and had a rating of 300. Albus Dumbledore has a rating of 154. "

Sirius gaped unflatteringly at the man. It was clear that his mind couldn't take much more. Orion wasn't much better off. He had expected some kind of magical bond but never a soul bond. Dumbledore had been the strongest globally of his generation; the scores themselves were never announced only the individuals ranking amongst their generation. Hearing that his son was more magically powerful than Dumbledore was just too much for him to take in one day.

The official continued and Orion thought that he saw the man's hand tremble slightly. "Mr Peters score is 267 a score that has not been seen since the time of the founders. Furthermore their scores will increase until they reach 17, at which point they hit their magical maturity and they will receive a magical boost as we all do. However when they consummate their bond it is possible that their scores will increase again, I would certainly suspect it of young mister Black."

At this point was sure that he had permanently dislocated his jaw. Orion felt like he needed an alcoholic boost. Peters however finally reacted as his eyes widened betraying his shock.

Before they could say anything however the final vials of blood had been poured over silvery parchment for the final test. This time the goblin that Orion belatedly recognised as Ragnock, head of Gringotts spoke. "Mr Black's heritage test confirms that he is the chosen heir of the house of Black and of pureblood. However he has also fulfilled the requirements to inherit the Ravenclaw Estate of which he is a direct descendant, becoming Grand Duke Ravenclaw of the Isles (England and Scotland) and all that comes with it." a thick leather folder was handed over to the heavily traumatised Sirius Black.

"Mr Peters test has revealed more. Specifically that he was born Harry James Potter in the year 1980, but chose, upon his arrival in 1973 to disown himself from the Potter line and instead is eligible and must claim instead his inheritance through father's line that only he has fulfilled the conditions for and as such Grand Duke Gryffindor of Wales. He has also unofficially become Grand Duke Slytherin of Ireland through right of magic and conquest. Finally he is also eligible through his mother's bloodline and through magic's choice to the title of His Royal Highness Prince of Avalon last living descendant of Merlin."

"We at Gringotts ask that both of you visit the bank for private or a joint meeting within the week to claim your lordships, rings and discuss the management of your estates."

There was a long silence as three thick folders were passed to Peters who took them automatically with shaking hands.

Then a thud was heard and Harrison Peters, calm, cool, collected Slytherin fell off his chair in a dead faint.

The ministry official glanced at the boy on the floor for a moment before turning to address Sirius, "Mr Black would you like to register your marriage today or wait for a formal ceremony?"

Sirius stared at them man for a moment before laughing hysterically and joining his husband on the floor in a dead faint.

Orion dearly wished that he could join them but instead took a deep breath and mentally promised himself a large bottle of fire whiskey when he got home, thanked the highly amused committee before summoning the four leather folders and then headed back to the floo levitating the two unconscious boys behind him.

**Thank you to all those who took the time to review my story; any ideas would be very useful and welcome. **


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sirius rolled over and smiled sleepily into his pillow. It seemed to smell nicer than his normal pillow, and it was certainly bigger and warmer. He smiled some more and snuggled closer to the pillow and wrapped a leg around it. He sighed happily as the pillow responded and wrapped itself around him...hang on a minute. Sirius Black sat up quickly and wrenched himself out of Peters' arms and promptly fell off the bed and landed hard as he scrambled to get away.

As he absentmindedly rubbed his sore butt, the sound of someone laughing registered, and he turned to see his father sitting in his favourite arm chair in their living room – which seemed to have a rather large bed in the middle of it – laughing at him. Sirius fumed silently; why was it always him who embarrassed himself. He pouted at his father but sadly this only made him laugh harder and he was soon joined by a deeper sensuous laugh coming from the green eyed god who was still lying languidly on the bed.

However as Sirius was searching for his wand in an attempt to hex the pair of them Orion spoke; "if you would both like to sit on the couch I can banish the bed and then we can talk about what we found out this afternoon."

As Sirius settled himself on the couch absentmindedly taking Peters' hand he suddenly froze.

"Please tell me I imagined it" he begged his father, "I'm too young to be married!"

Orion Black manfully swallowed a snigger at the look of abject horror on Sirius' face but continued seriously, "you are for all intents and purposes married. I think it would be best for the pair of you to stay here tonight and we can deal with the decisions that need to be made and get the truth from some of us" here he fixed Peters with a stern look. "Tomorrow morning straightaway after breakfast we shall all go to Gringotts, register your marriage" here Sirius looked ready to faint again and Peters winced as the circulation in his hand felt as though it had been permanently cut off as Sirius held onto it desperately. Again Orion had to fight down his laughter; his life had certainly become entertaining of late. "We shall probably have to spend most of the morning at Gringotts sorting out your estates as it seems they have been gathering interest and the properties left alone since the founders lived pr earlier. After we have sorted all of that out and you have claimed you titles I shall take you back to school. I have already informed McGonagall that the pair of you likely won't be back until lunch time tomorrow."

Here Orion took a moment to reminisce and smiled happily as he remembered McGonagall's displeasure at the situation and the thinning of her lips. He had never liked Minerva when they had been at school together, they had always been academically competing for the top spot, which she had won he thought with irritation. It really had been too long since he'd had the pleasure of tweaking her tail, sighing to himself he continued.

"Sirius, it is up to you what you do about your status as Black heir. I will formally announce it in the New Year but we will need to have a family meeting sooner, probably next weekend. I'll owl you the time and send a separate portkey for you and Pe...Harrison so that you can arrive early." as Sirius nodded ruefully Orion looked at Peters "You shall be expected here for the family holiday with Sirius. You are now part of the Black family and as such you must attend the family meeting."

Peters met his eyes and nodded. It was time for the truth he thought to himself. He stood, removed his hand from Sirius' with a pang, and began to pace. "I assume you both know occlumency?" at their nods he began.

"As you know I was born in 1980 Harry James Potter" he glanced at the Blacks and saw Orion watching him with narrowed eyes and Sirius with confusion. He sighed to himself and continued "when I was one year old my parents, Lily and James Potter, were murdered by Lord Voldemort. He tried to kill me as well in an attempt to circumvent a prophecy, which he ironically only ended up fulfilling. So, instead of me dying he was banished into a spirit form for 10 years or so and I was sent to live with my only remaining family the Dursley family who turned out to be magic hating muggles.

"I was placed at the Dursleys on the orders of Albus Dumbledore, ignoring the will of my parents, for my apparent protection and he invoked blood wards. My life at the Dursleys was miserable. They hated me with a passion and let us just say that I now have a greater understanding of house elves, just without the job satisfaction element. I was kept ignorant of the magical world and my standing within it."

Here he paused again wondering exactly how much detail to go into. "Eventually on my 11th birthday I found out that I was a wizard and was then promptly thrust head first into the magical where I was a celebrity. My introduction to the magical world was performed by Hagrid on Dumbledore's orders. I was told certain things; my parents were wonderful Gryffindors, all Slytherins were evil and that Voldemort had been one and, finally, that Dumbledore was a man to be admired above all others."

Here Orion began to look outraged and Sirius suspicious, "At the same time other things were left out, such as the fact that my godfather was currently wrongfully imprisoned in Azkaban and had been for 10 years. I also didn't get the typical muggleborn introduction, and was thus completely ignorant of wizarding customs."

Understanding had begun to dawn on Orion's face so he continued "my first year was anything but quiet. I talked the hat out of sorting me into Slytherin and was instead put in Gryffindor, where I never truly fit in. I was naturally too cautious and cynical, and so was forced to act overly reckless to compensate." Here Sirius' face took on a slightly pained expression. It was clear that he understood what Harry meant rather well coming from a very Slytherin family.

"After that I made fast friends with a Weasley and a Muggleborn, Granger. I was forced to act a mediocre so as not to upset Granger by being cleverer than her, or to make Weasley jealous. Don't get me wrong, they weren't bad people, just completely the wrong friends for me. Once I inherited my father's invisibility cloak however things became easier and I studied most nights in the library. I had always been bright, but I really took to magic, it just seemed so easy and natural."

Both Blacks nodded, it was true that magic had a different feel to purebloods than muggleborns. "By the end of the year I had managed to cement my place as average in my studies, but excellent at DADA and highly daring by killing a Voldemort possessed defence professor and saving the philosophers stone which had been hidden in the castle that year. I was then packed off back to my muggle relatives. However there was one difference, the matron Madame Pomfrey had noticed that I was malnourished and had several badly healed bones, and so when I spent the end of my first year in the hospital wing recovering from my confrontation with Voldermort she banished and re-grew them and began dosing me with nutrient and growth potions. She then gave me a supply that would last for the entire summer and a small unnoticeable bag to put them in so that I could hide them."

Harry pause for breath. It wasn't easy trying to give the Blacks enough information, and yet not too much, but from the angry looks on both of their faces they had understood what he had not wanted to announce.

"My second year" he continued abruptly, wanting to get this over with "was worse in many ways, as the Chamber of secrets was opened and I was the main suspect as I could speak parseltongue. I didn't exactly understand the stigma being a parseltongue carried and so revealed it by accident. I was shunned and feared by almost everyone. My studies became a retreat of sorts and so I spent as much time as possible in the library under my cloak, I had reached silent casting and fourth year spells by this time. However to appease my friends I pretended to be searching for the heir of Slytherin and together we brewed polyjuice potion in the out of order bathroom on the second floor. Eventually the year ended and I ended up in the Chamber of Secrets and killing a sixty foot basilisk with the sword of Gryffindor that I had pulled from the sorting hat. But what was most interesting about that year was that when the basilisk bit me" here he ignored the sharp intakes of breath from his audience "a black shadow emerged from the scar on my forehead screaming, and then the scar vanished and my eye sight corrected itself. Before I could die Fawlkes Dumbledore's pheonix cried and saved me. But I felt different, cleaner, purer and darker, almost as if a new part of my magic had been released. "I stabbed the diary that had once belonged to Voldemort and that had possessed a first year and making her open the Chamber and the apparition of a teenage Voldemort vanished. I didn't know what that meant then".

He turned and looked at Orion and saw the look of horror. "So you understand?" Orion nodded and then asked a question "Could you still speak parseltongue after that?"

Harry smiled slowly then nodded "I theorised that because I had faced and defeated Voldemort three times I had won some Slytherin family magics; my theory was confirmed in the department of mysteries".

"My third year I managed to stay the last week of the holidays in Diagon Alley, and sold the basilisk carcass to Gringotts for a fortune. They gave me a portkey to put on the body and an activation phrase, and I sent it to them as soon as I arrived back at Hogwarts. I didn't meet Voldemort that year; instead the drama was all to do with an Azkaban escapee, the first ever".

"Bloody Hell" blurted out Sirius. It was such an alien idea, no one escaped from Azkaban.

Harry smiled softly "Indeed. The worst death eater inside the walls of Azkaban and Voldemort's right hand man I was told. Of course I later found out that the man hadn't been given a trial and had instead been simply illegally imprisoned, not that the Ministry was prepared to change their minds. I found out eventually that the Ministry believed that he was after me, and that he believed that if he killed me he would be able to bring Voldemort back. As it was a fairly quiet year otherwise I managed to get to the end of fifth year studies and taught myself Arithmancy and Ancient Runes." Here Harry grimaced "in order to maintain my image I had been forced to take the same things as Weasley, namely Divination and CMC. Anyway at the end of the year I ended up confronting the Azkaban escapee in the Shrieking Shack, where it was revealed that he was innocent and Peter Pettigrew had committed the crimes that said escapee had been accused of, and then turned into his illegal animagus form and hidden himself with the Weasley family as their pet rat. The escapee had seen a photo of the rat in the newspaper when the Minister visited and escaped to protect me, his godson in his own illegal animagus form. " Here Harry turned to meet Sirius' horrified and resigned gaze.

"It was me wasn't it? I was accused of being a death eater because I was a Black and I managed to escape once I realised that you were in danger, and then I slipped into the castle through one of the secret passageways." Sirius stated rather sadly. He had spent almost 12 years in Azkaban, there was no way he would be the same after that.

"You're an animagus?" Orion Black thought that little could shock him, but this did.

Sirius seemed only now to remember his father's presence "erm...oops?" he offered hopefully.

Orion didn't know whether to be shocked or angry, he decided to find out more information first so he asked through gritted teeth "and why did you become an illegal animagus?"

Sirius slumped slightly in his chair and ran a hand through his hair "Remus, one of my best friends, is a werewolf. You should see it Dad, changing is so painful for him, he attacks himself! But you see James and I figured out that werewolves only attack humans, so if we were animals we could keep him company and stop him from hurting himself. And we managed it in two years!" he finished rather proudly.

Orion sighed and then smiled at his son proudly "what is your animagus form?"

Sirius perked up at once, "I'll show you!" and without further ado changed into a grim.

Orion swore loudly and stared at his son. That was it. He just couldn't take anymore. He summoned a bottle of fire whiskey to him and ignoring all proper pureblood mantras about correct behaviour took a long swig from the bottle.

Sirius changed back and stared at his father in shock "Dad?"

"You're a magical animagus Sirius."

Sirius looked confused, "I'm not, I just look like a grim, I'm not actually one"

"You are" interjected Peters firmly, "you might not have been when you first transformed, but now that you've had a magical boost because of our bond it unlocked the potential that you had and your formed changed, but not enough for to you to really notice. Your friends will next full moon though" he warned.

Now it was Sirius' turn to snatch the bottle of fire whiskey from his father and take a long draft before collapsing back onto the couch.

Peters decided it would be best to distract the Blacks by moving on with his story "anyway Pettigrew escaped and you ended up back on the run, but we remained in contact. I felt safer with you, but our magical reaction was not as extreme, probably because my magic had not matured enough and because yours was damaged from Azkaban. That was the end of my third year".

"How much more is there?" Asked Orion quietly

"Two years"

"Bugger" said both Blacks in unison before lunging for the whiskey bottle.

**Thank you to all those who took the time to review my story; any ideas would be very useful and welcome.**

**I have decided to separate Harry's past into two chapters, one would just be too long. There haven't been any really extreme reactions yet because the Blacks are still in shock, I also don't think that uncontrolled anger really suits Orion's character.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

After a brief battle over the firewhiskey, which ended when Harrison summoned a new one from the kitchen, he continued with his story. "I changed alot that summer. Of course I no longer needed my glasses, my scar was gone and quidditch and the nutrient potions had resulted in me finally hitting a growth spurt and looking like a normal, if still lean and wiry teenager. I also began to grow my hair out, and much to my pleasure it became more manageable. As most people only ever saw the scar I was able to move about in Diagon Alley fairly easily and during one of my visits to Gringotts discovered the Potter estate."

"Not matter how much I wanted to, I knew that I had to stay at the Dursleys as I was fairly sure that Dumbledore was monitoring the blood wards. However having access to Potter Manor did give me some advantages, and Sirius had already told me how to get into Grimmauld Place. Both houses were warded and so I could practice magic, not to mention the library. It was in the Black library I found out about horcruxes and occlumency. I deliberately stopped reading about horcruxes until I was sure my occlumency shields were active, but unlike most I developed a mirror around my mind wall which would reflect the image that anyone who looked wanted or expected to see. I theorised that Voldemort, being as obsessed with magic as he was would have planned on creating 6 horcruxes, resulting in the overall number being 7, a highly magical number. I believed that I was an unintentional horcrux, and therefore I had to find and destroy 5, as the diary was now gone."

Orion by this point was looking highly ill by the idea of anyone splitting their soul into seven pieces intentionally. Sirius looked grim, there were some advantages to being a Black, one of which was the library, and when he was younger he had sneaked in and come across horcruxes. He remembered because he had been drawn to the book and the usual warning spells and protections seemed to have been deactivated. He guessed now he knew why.

"It took me the rest of my free summer – the last few weeks I was at the Weasley's house for the quidditch world cup – but I managed to create a potion that would be able to scan for high concentrations of dark magic despite any wards, and poured it over a map of the globe. Four were revealed, and one was in Grimmauld Place itself. I didn't have time to track the other three that summer but one was hidden in Hogwarts. I didn't find the room of requirement until my fifth year, and then I destroyed it with basilisk venom, as I had the others. That left two. One was in Gringotts, in an ole pureblood vault; I had to find out which. After looking through trial records and using Dumbledore's pensive I concluded that if Voldemort had trusted Lucius Malfoy with the diary, why would he not trust the fanatically devoted Bellatrix Lestrange. I managed to negotiate with the goblins on the basis that, although you Orion had named Regulus heir after Sirius ran away, you did not disown Sirius, and as Regulus died childless, surely the title reverted to Sirius. This, a written note from Sirius - he covered for me in the summer before my fifth year - and a substantial bribe got me the penultimate horcrux. The last horcrux was more difficult as it was in Little Hangleton, not a place I could get to without rousing suspicions. So I sent Sirius. I was never sure how he managed it, but he managed to slip out from under the watchful eye of his guards at Grimmauld place and burn down the entire shack with fiendfyre. The horcruxes were dealt with by the time I sat my OWLs."

"Meanwhile my four year was a nightmare as I was entered as a fourth and unwilling champion in the newly revived Triwizard Tournament. By this time it becoming harder and harder to maintain my image of mediocrity. I wasn't worried about the tournament as such, I mean I had completed my Hogwarts studies over the summer; it was more how to win the tasks without giving myself away. Eventually I used an idea suggested by another both times and managed to keep my image. However the third task was more problematic as, as I won I was portkeyed to an unknown location. A fellow champion, Cedric Diggory, was with me, so I couldn't show any advanced magic."

Here Harry paused. It had been hard enough to mix a story about the events for Dumbledore the first time. He'd never told anyone the whole truth, it had been too dangerous to tell Sirius as they had hardly ever been left alone together that summer, and they'd used the brief moments that had had to deal with the horcrux issue. He took a breath and then continued more quickly.

"Before I could decide what to do Diggory was dead and I was tied up wandless, and my blood being used in an obscure ritual to resurrect Voldemort. The death eaters were called to him and he released me so that we could `duel`. I was very lucky. I didn't have to reveal my talents because we had brother wands, which connected, and the results distracted him long enough for me to get back to the portkey and escape. Dumbledore was told what happened and he told the Minister who immediately denied it all and I was bungled back off to the Dursleys with a guard to ensure I stayed there."

"There were several problems with Dumbledore's plan though, the most pressing of which being that I desperately needed a new wand. I had been having problems with mine since the end of second year. I think the horcrux in me was part of the reason it chose me and so I needed to get to a wand shop. Furthermore, even though the horcrux was gone Voldemort and I were still bound together, I think because I had claimed some of the Slytherin magics from him, and I also now think that the prophecy played with our magics to ensure a connection, although I didn't know it at the time. This meant that despite my occlumency shields I had dreams from Voldemort's point of view and I had no way to stop them."

"Sirius solved the wand problem for me however. Using Mundugus Fletcher as a go between he got in contact with a wand crafter in Knockturn Alley, who, using my blood after making an unbreakable vow, made me a new wand, and bound by my blood so that only I could use it. 12 and ¾ inches blood wood with a dual core of a pheonix feather and a nundu heartstring soaked in basilisk venom and willlingly given unicorn blood. Not a light wand as my old one was, but a truly grey wand."

"The connection to Voldemort however could not be so easily severed, and so my fifth year was hell as my sleep was plagued by confusing and horrific dreams of Voldemort's actions, wants and emotions, and my day by a Ministry underling who delighted in torturing me with a blood quill in a desperate attempt to get me to retract my statement about Voldemort's return or drive me insane so that I could be hospitalised. With the Daily Prophet smearing my name left, right and centre it wasn't a fun year. It eventually concluded with OWLs, and I had yet another choice to make, whether to perform as I had always at Hogwarts, to a very average level, or to show my true skills. Taxed by lack of sleep and pain I decided, perhaps unwisely to continue to be average. However in my last exam I fell asleep and had dream of Voldemort torturing Sirius in the department of mysteries."

"I had always been very unreasonable where Sirius was concerned, and so I lost my head and behaved in a highly unwise and rash manor and ended up in the Department of mysteries with 5 other students chased by death eaters as I had walked into a trap. It turned out that there was a prophecy about Voldemort and myself, and no one had bothered to inform me. Voldemort didn't want to risk going to the Ministry himself, so instead he lured me there and because Sirius was involved I fell for it."

Harry stopped again and swallowed. The following memories still haunted him. He continued in a slightly shaking voice.

"During the battle Sirius showed up and...he...he fell through the veil in the death chamber"

There was a ringing silence in the room. Sirius had gone as white as a sheet and was now reaching out a trembling hand for the fire whiskey again. Orion appeared to be stuck in shock mode. Harry knew he had to finish the story before he couldn't.

"I...I lost my head. When Sirius vanished it was like a part of me had died and would never come back. I chased Bellatrix Lestrange, who had cast the spell that had pushed Sirius into the veil and crucioed her. Then Voldemort showed up and we duelled. I was lost in world of my own pain and so I killed him using the avada kedavra curse. Dumbledore was horrified" Harry laughed bitterly here "h couldn't believe what I had done. But I didn't care. I moved back to the veil in a daze ignoring everyone and followed you through it."

"In the veil I can't exactly remember what happened, but I was aware of the damage done by my childhood that madam Pomfrey had been unable to fix being cured. When I emerged it was 1973. My magic guided me, it had almost become sentient, and it took me to Gringotts where I disowned myself from the Potter line, my plan wasn't to change things too much, so hopefully in 8 or so years another Harry James Potter would be born, so I couldn't really exist as a Potter. I found a shrunken trunk in my when I emerged from the veil with OWL scores in, the ones I should have got if I had tried, and documentation labelling me as a Harrison Peters and a late acceptance letter to Hogwarts. I had fitting clothes, robes and all the books needed to start my sixth year at Hogwarts. I stayed the night at the Leaky Caldron and boarded the Hogwarts express the next day. The rest you know".

Harry sank into the nearest chair glad that his story was over with. They all sat in silence for a time before Orion spoke;

"Thank you for telling us. We can now at least change some things." He then fixed Harry with a piercing look "old magic brought you here Harrison and who am I to reject magic's gift?"

Orion shot a glance at the still silent and brooding Sirius, "I think it would be best if I left you here to talk. Kreacher will bring in dinner shortly. Sirius can either show you to a spare room or you can share his for the night. I'll have Kreacher wake you both for breakfast before we go to Gringotts in the morning. Goodnight" and with that Orion left the room after pausing briefly to put a reassuring hand on Sirius' shoulder causing him to stir.

Silence once again filled the room until Harry grabbed the nearest bottle of fire whiskey and took a large swallow before saying "So..."

**Thank you to everyone who spotted the mistakes in the previous chapters in the years, hopefully they have now been changed. The reviews are always very helpful so thank you to those who take the time to fill one out. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Sirius Black was not happy. In fact unhappy did not even begin to cover how he was feeling. I mean, any day when he, the blood traitor Black was named Black heir was bound to be emotionally turbulent he reasoned. Therefore when on top of that he found out that he was more magically powerful than Dumbledore, THE Albus Dumbledore, he felt that he was completely entitled to a glass of fire whiskey. Then when he found that he was the Grand Duke Ravenclaw, well let's just say that needing the rest of the bottle of fire whiskey was a perfectly normal reaction. And furthermore fainting upon realising that he was soul bound and MARRIED, bloody married, at 16 was an entirely justified reaction. However even Sirius Black couldn't handle the fact that on top of all that he had already learnt that day, that he was in fact married to his own godson who had been transported from the future...well let's just say that Sirius Black was not happy.

Therefore when Harrison, or _Harry_, used a word as banal as `_so`_ to start his sentence, Sirius felt that he was completely justified in his reaction.

"SO!" he shrieked "What do you bloody well mean so!"

Peters winced and tried again "Siri..."

"Don't you Siri me!" shouted Sirius Black, completely ignoring the warmth that flooded his stomach at the affectionate nick name. "You can't just waltz in here, and announce that you are my godson and spouse from the future and expect me to take it calmly!"

Sirius was so upset that he couldn't breathe. It was all just too much. He couldn't do it. Maybe he could have been an okay Duke in twenty or so years after his father, but not now. He just couldn't get his head around how much his life had changed and how much he would have to change to make it work. Yellow spots began to appear in front of his eyes.

The next thing Sirius knew a pair of warm, strong arms had wrapped themselves around him and he was steered gently back towards the couch. That wonderful scent that was just Harrison filled his nostrils and he resisted for only a moment before he leaned in to that wonderful smell. It was strange and annoying the part of his brain that was still functioning thought that his Ry was able to do this to him. It certainly wasn't a small thing to diffuse the Black temper so quickly.

It was just then that another interesting thought occurred to Sirius, he had just called Peters Ry in his mind! Just when did he start giving Slytherins – admittedly a hot, dreamy and clever Slytherin – nicknames! However before he could open his mouth to protest this, another thought intruded, a much more serious thought, if that was possible. His father had said that they could share a bedroom! His father thought that he was...that he was...Sirius didn't have the words to sum up the situation. His brain had shut down. Again.

Harry sighed. This wasn't really how he had envisioned his conversation with Sirius going. Of course he hadn't actually been planning to tell Sirius all the details, like the fact that he was his godson, but considering the situation it had been safer to admit the whole truth, well most of it, than risk exposure later. And the plan had worked to an extent, he had Orion Black's blessing, and as Sirius was the Black heir this time around, that was no small thing. Sirius himself however seemed to be having problems with it all. He shifted his grip slightly to hug Sirius closer. Sirius couldn't leave him, they were soul bound, but that didn't mean he couldn't make life very uncomfortable for Harry, so it was better to try and get back into his good books as quickly as possible.

Sirius sighed and inhaled deeply. He was calm now...well calmer, nobody could be calm in this situation, he was sure of it. Much to his surprise, and to his friends had they been present his brain began a rational and logical – Sirius nearly shuddered in horror – analysis of the situation. And, sadly, the situation could be summed up in one word; permanent.

Sirius Black, despite the opinions of most of the Hogwart's staff, was not a fool. Not only that, but any pureblood's upbringing, regardless of status or believes included talks about old magic. He knew what soul bound meant. He also knew that it was permanent. You couldn't break or deny a soul bond, and as Harry had proven, magic itself was even willing to alter time to ensure that the bond was consummated. Keeping all of these facts in mind Sirius felt his anger at Peters...Ry melt. It really wasn't Ry's fault anymore than it was his own. It was just...too much. The entire situation was just...too much.

Sirius whimpered softly, he could feel it again, his magic was demanding he form the soul bound; it wouldn't wait any longer. God only know what James would say, but would he even tell him? Sirius wasn't sure what James' reaction to his being named Black heir would be. James was a pureblood and as such would have, reluctantly, accepted his marriage to Ry after a tantrum or seven, but him being Black heir, a position that signified everything that James despised and mocked in purebloods, Sirius felt it would go down badly. If he then told James that he was actually sleeping with his future son...well let's just say Sirius was fairly sure that he wouldn't survive that conversation with his manly parts intact.

"I'm sorry Sirius. I know this isn't what you had planned for your life..." whispered Ry into his ear.

But Sirius cut him off by pulling gently out of his arms, standing and walking to the door. Once he had reached the door he turned and caught sight of a devastated expression on the normally closed off Slytherin's face. He smiled and held out his hand "aren't you coming?"

Sirius stared at Ry across the bedroom. He swallowed. This was ridiculous. He was Sirius Black, seducer extraordinaire, admittedly always with women, but still the principle was the same. He shouldn't be feeling like this, but then this was permanent. If he did this there was no going back, this wasn't a meaningless one night stand. This was forever. And, strangely that didn't scare him as much as it should. If there was one person that he could imagine spending the rest of his life with, it would be Ry, despite the fact that he barely knew him. But his future self had lived after hell for this boy, and in return the boy had died for him, and that was enough.

With these thoughts in mind Sirius slid his arms around Ry's neck and they began to kiss. The magic around them began to pulse and mix, but unlike the previous times they had kissed, this time they didn't try to hold back their magic. Instead they welcomed the union. For the first time in their lives they could both feel the soul deep loneliness, which they hadn't known they felt until now, begin to leave them. What they had both always been unconsciously missing was there as both they and the magic reached its peak before beginning to settle, but never fade.

It was a good job Orion Black reflected that his ancestors had been paranoid bastards and had had every ward and security measure they could think of installed on the house as the magic of a soul bound finalising ran through the house. If it hadn't been for the wards every pureblood and some powerful halfbloods would have felt, and been aware of the union. But they weren't ready for that yet.

A soul bonding should be cause but cause for celebration, but in the current delicate political climate it was much better to keep the union in the family until the boys reached their magical maturity and were as untouchable as they were going to be. Orion Black smiled. It would all be okay, but he would keep a close eye on Bellatrix, her future lack of sanity and murder of Sirius was a definite cause for concern. He would address that in the next family meeting, and if necessary bind her to the will of the family; Sirius, as his heir, outranked her as a priority. No, Harrison Peters would be a good, powerful, addition to the family even without his illustrious heritage, but with it, there could be no better match for his son. The Black family would come out on top, he was sure of it.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Sirius smiled sleepily into the warm body wrapped around his, he could get used to this. He shifted slightly; he wanted to be as close to Ry as possible, while he could anyway. He knew this could not last. He wasn't exactly sure what plan was for when he returned to school, but he doubted they would be broadcasting the fact that he was married to the world. Sirius knew that they couldn't hide the fact that he was Black heir for forever, that would be publically announced in the New Year, but they didn't have to announce his marriage. There was certainly no benefit to announcing the marriage without announcing Ry's titles, and doing that would draw Voldermort's eye, which they definitely didn't want until all of the horcruxes were destroyed. He sighed, his life had just gotten a lot more complicated.

Well, it could all wait until later, he thought dozily as he buried his head back into Ry's surprisingly defined chest. He felt the arms wrapped snugly around his body tighten in response, and he looked up to meet a pair of dazzling green eyes. They were warm, open, honest, and thought Sirius rather smugly, he was probably the only one who would see them this way.

"We should probably get up soon" murmured Ry, his breath tickling Sirius' ear gently.

Sirius pouted.

Ry's eyes filled with lust and with a muttered "well I did say soon", he reached down to capture Sirius' lips with his own.

Several minutes of slow but passionate snogging later they reluctantly pulled apart to be greeted with "Master Black is askings that yous be down stairs for breakfast soon. He is saying to remind yous that the later yous is going to the bank the more people will be seeing yous." croaked Kreacher. His tone, although slightly less angry than Sirius remembered, wasn't exactly open and friendly.

As Kreacher vanished with a loud crack, both boys sighed before rolling slowly out of bed. It was only then, as Sirius opened his wardrobe that he realised that he had a problem; his normal clothing, regardless of how sexy he looked in it, was blatantly muggle, and not suitable for doing serious business in Gringotts. That left him with two choices, his school robes, or formal robes. However he hadn't had new formal robes in long time. He sighed petulantly only to be greeted with a quiet chuckle.

He turned round to see his...shudder...husband...watching him with a highly amused look. However before he could demand to be told what was so funny he realised something else. "Where did you get those robes from?"

The corner of Ry's mouth twitched suspiciously, "You always did tend to forget that you were a wizard Siri" he stated wryly.

Just as Sirius was about to demand an explanation for that unhelpful statement, his brain woke up. Instead deflated and let out a rather breathy "oh" before transfiguring his school robes into something more formal, but classy and unassuming. Drawing the wizarding world's attention was definately not his plan for the morning, at least not until he had explained the rather...unusual...situation to James, Remus and Peter. He paused at the thought of Peter, before deciding that that problem was minor compared to all the others and pushing it to the back of his mind.

Sirius relaxed slightly, not that he had realised that he had tensed in the first place, as a warm arm slid itself around his waist. "It'll be okay" Ry said gently into his ear.

"I know" Sirius said gently into his ear. And he did, as soon as Ry touched him the soul bond thrummed in happiness and he had a deep set feeling that everything would work out. With Ry there how could it not?

No more words were necessary, so they calmly left Sirius room and headed down to breakfast.

**Thank you for the reviews. Sorry about the wait, I have been very busy. Any feed back is always welcome and apreciated**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The shoppers and workers of Diagon Alley were greeted with an unusual sight that Tuesday morning. Lord Orion Black going into Gringotts, was not in itself an unusual occurrence, however he was rarely seen at the Bank before 11 a.m., and certainly not this early in the day. Even more unusually he was accompanied by his son, Sirius Black. Now the citizens of Diagon Alley could count on one hand the number of times they had seen Orion Black out in public with his eldest son since his unusual sorting. When the residents focused on Sirius Black himself they were all surprised to see a...well a serious...expression on his face, and when taking into account the boys formal clothes and proud stride, they had hardly recognised the boy. Once all of these facts had been digested, and passed on to the local gossips, the third figure of the party was evaluated. A handsome boy was the general consensus, proud, closed off, and most importantly unknown. It was sufficed to say that the gossip network, including one junior Witch Weekly reporter had gotten their scoop for the day, and the mysterious event was spread at top speed to all those who would want to know, and quite a few who didn't.

Lord Orion Black took the stares and whispers in his stride. He'd let them speculate for now, and then in the New Year he'd really give them something to talk about. Oh how he couldn't wait to see Abraxas Malfoy's face.

* * *

><p>Inside Gringotts Biletooth looked up in time to see the party enter and immediately hopped off of his stool and walked towards them. In an uncharacteristically polite gesture he bowed and spoke in his harsh voice "I have been instructed to take you to see Ragnok as soon as you arrived. If you would follow me" and then turned and led the three men through an ornate door and down several corridors to Ragnok's office.<p>

Rather unfortunately for the Blacks the junior Witch Weekly reporter who had noticed their arrival in Diagon Alley, Betty Braithwaite, had followed them into Gringotts and noticed their unusual welcome. Normally upon entering the bank clients had to find a free goblin, and even then they were usually ignored for a good ten minutes or so before being sneered at and served. This story had just gotten more interesting, and Betty, after a moment of indecision, decided to head off to the Witch Weekly offices to write up her story. If she was fast enough she might just land the scoop before anyone else! With these thoughts she turned and left Gringotts and headed towards the Leaky Caldron and the floo network.

* * *

><p>Ragnok looked up and smiled a rather disconcerting smile. He had thought that the Blacks and Mr Peters would come today to sort out their business. He reached into the top draw of his desk and drew out the files and waited impatiently for his clients to be seated. "I assume we shall start with the Black family business?" he asked. He received a nod. "Well then I am sure that you will be pleased to hear that you investments have been fruitful and your gold has increased by 5% since your last visit. I have a note hear that Lady Black has been from accessing the Black wealth, is this correct?" He received another nod. "Very Well, currently the only people with full access to all of your vaults are in this room; as the spouse of the Black heir, and the dominant partner in the soul bond, Mr Peters has automatically been granted access, is this meet with your approval?" Again more nods. "Other active vaults include the trust vaults for Miss Bellatrix Black, Miss Narcissa Black, Master Regulus Black and Mr Sirius Black, as well as a minor vault for the use of a Mr Cygnus Black and his wife Mrs Druella Black. There are several other minor vaults that are currently active, including one that included the dowries for the young Miss Blacks; the dowry vault that belonged to Miss Andromeda Black, now Mrs Tonks has been closed. Finally the heir vault is now open and accessible only by Mr Sirius Black and his spouse and contains a net sum of 2.7 million galleons and is updated monthly with all the profits from the Black's shares of the Daily Prophet and an annual stipend of 250 000 galleons from the main vault." Here Ragnok paused to take a breath, "The only outstanding legal matters are the marriage contacts for the young Miss Blacks and the disownment paperwork for Mrs Tonks which had to be left dormant until both Lord Black and his chosen heir could sign them. Do you have any problems with these documents?"<p>

"Father" Sirius spoke hesitantly, "knowing what we know now, do you think that it would be a good idea to sign off on the marriage contracts?"

Orion Black looked pensive for a moment then sighed, "Harrison? You have the most insight here after all, what is your view?"

Harrison Peters turned to survey Orion with those cool green eyes, making Orion shudder internally, before answering calmly "I would sign off on the Malfoy contact. They were a well matched pair. However I would add a conditional clause into the contract stipulating that both parties must swear on their magic not to join or aid financially any terrorist groups."

Orion Black nodded. This seemed to be highly reasonable considering all they knew of the future. Although he didn't approve of marrying muggle, vigilante action was certainly beneath members of the Black Family; "and Bellatrix?"

Peters paused for a longer period of time before answering, "I would sign, but include the same clause and conditions...but I would also bind her by Familia Lex, that way she would be unable to reveal any...sensitive information."

Again Orion nodded, but this time to Ragnok who added the clauses to the contracts. As the Black family had higher status than the Malfoy Family – if less money – and the Lestrange Family, they were the last to sign the contract, and as such were able to change unsatisfactory elements as long as the key terms remained the same. Once Ragnok had made the changes and had them approved, both Orion and Sirius signed. Owls would go out with copies of the contracts to all involved parties the next day. However all they would know was that an heir had been chosen, not that they shouldn't have felt it magically already, they would not know who had been chosen until the family meeting.

"That just leaves the disownment documents"

Sirius shifted uncomfortably. Andy had always been his favourite cousin, but to marry a muggleborn, Sirius couldn't see an argument that would prevent the disownment. Although he personally had nothing against muggleborns, most of his family did, and it would affect the status of the Black family badly in pureblood circles if they did nothing. Sirius didn't want to have to choose between Andy and his duty, but it seemed he had no choice; however before he could speak Ry spoke.

"Her daughter will be a metamorphmagus."

Silence rang throughout the room. Even Ragnok looked interested in this; metamorphmagi were exceptionally rare and the magical gift was one of the most highly valued.

Orion Black now faced a dilemma. He didn't want to disown Andromeda, in fact he had even met Ted Tonks at the Ministry and thought him to be a highly capable wizard for a muggleborn, however that certainly didn't mean he wanted Tonks as part of his family. Furthermore a metamorphmagus in the house of Black that would be enough to counter any status drop that would occur if he didn't disown Andromeda. Now he would just have to deal with Cygnus, who would most certainly not be happy. Taking a deep breath Orion made his decision, "rejected. Restore the dowry and see that it is given in full to Ted Tonks along with several books on pureblood etiquette. When any children are born set up trust vaults automatically, and set aside one of the smaller Black vaults for their use." A rather vicious smile appeared on Orion Black's face. "In fact give them the vault that belonged to my wife, and then send her a long and detailed letter informing her of what I have done with it."

Sirius snorted in amusement, and his face took on a decidedly dreamy quality as he envisioned the look on his mother's face. No he certainly wasn't bitter.

Ragnok smiled again. It was not a pleasant sight. "Next we come to the Ravenclaw Grand Dutchy. Mr Sirius Black if you would just sign here" some documents were handed over "excellent you are now the Grand Duke of Ravenclaw, giving you a seat on the wizengamot and on the Hogwarts board of governors. If you wish to assign a proxy to hold those seats for you until you come of age then you will need to sign here. They will have no access to your vaults and are required to consult with you before voting and can be removed by you at any time." Ragnok handed over yet more documents.

Sirius looked at his father. He had no desire to have the world know that he was now a Grand Duke in his own right, the gossip and accompanying hangers on would be a nightmare, not to mention the responsibility. He would definitely wait until he finished Hogwarts. "Dad?"

Orion Black nodded and signed the documents.

Ragnok continued "Congratulations Lord Black, you have now become the Ravenclaw Proxy, and as such you have the right to veto motions in the Wizengamot and at Hogwarts, along with the usual powers. Now the Ravenclaw vaults have been untouched since the death of Rowena Ravenclaw as, until now, no one fulfilled the inheritance criteria. This means that the only increases have come from interest and not active investments. You have a net total in coins of some 643 million galleons as well as Rowena Ravenclaw's personal and private library which is priceless in value. Furthermore you also have two manor houses in England, which house the library. By the time of Ravenclaw's death her library had grown so large that even with expansion charms it had to be split between two locations and the properties are maintained by many spells and the descendants of the original Ravenclaw house-elves. We can give you their location, and you will simply have to press the signet ring to the entrance for access. Once you do that the wards will be transferred to you and then you will be able to allow others to enter. If you would sign here to signify that you are taking possession of all the vaults and assets."

A rather shell-shocked Sirius obediently signed several more pieces of paper. Once he was done he was handed a box by Ragnok. Automatically Sirius opened the box and slid the Ravenclaw signet ring – a bronze ring with a blue eagle emblazoned on it - onto his ring finger on his left hand. Immediately he felt a change. Like with the Black heir ring he felt his magic respond and flare, but this time there were no family members linked only what seemed to be about a dozen house elves.

Sirius took a deep breath and opened his eyes before slumping back into his seat. At least his surprises for the day were over. It was a shame that he had to return to school he though idly, he would much rather head back to the remains of that bottle of fire whiskey. He stared at the ring on his left hand, it was bloody noticeable! He had no idea how he would hide this! As if the ring could understand his thoughts it faded slowly. He could still feel it, but no one would be able to see it. He smiled happily; finally something was going his way – not including becoming one of the wealthiest men in the world his mind added helpfully.

Ragnok was speaking again. "Now Mr Peters...

**I have had to split this chapter into two halves as it was getting too long. Again any reviews are appreciated.**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Ragnok was speaking again. "Now Mr Peters...

However before he could continue he was interrupted by Orion, "perhaps Ragnok it would be better to sign and validate their marriage before continuing?"

Ragnok looked up from his paper work and seemed to assess Orion Black before conceding that perhaps he had a point. He reached towards the bottom of his large pile of unsigned documents and extricated several pieces of parchment.

"Very Well. They will both need to sign this piece of paper with a blood quill to say that they have an active and consummated soul bond. A copy of this document will then be sent to the Department of Mysteries and another to the Marriage Registry at the Ministry, you will find a copy among the legal documentation in the main Black vault and we, the administration of Gringotts, shall keep the last copy. Sign here please"

Both boys reached forwards, Sirius first, and with a show of Gryffindor courage signed the document. Peters raised an amused eyebrow at his now official spouse before doing the same, although in a rather more leisurely fashion.

Ragnok clicked his fingers and the document glowed before vanishing. The Ravenclaw and Black documents slipped themselves back into their leather files, one copy returning to their owners and the other heading towards the Gringotts archives.

"As a soul bond is permanent and both parties are titled then no document concerning a division of assets in the case of divorce is necessary. However you will both need to sign this document stating that any children you should have are only entitled to receive the Black Grand Duchy and the Grand Duchies of Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. The title of Prince of Avalon has separate inheritance requirements. Furthermore should you have a daughter she would automatically inherit the Ravenclaw title, and sons the Slytherin and Gryffindor if you were to have children of both gender. Please sign here"

Sirius, looking significantly whiter than he had five minutes earlier at the mention of children, signed the parchment and Peters followed him again. Once again Ragnok snapped his fingers and the document duplicated itself and slid a copy into each inheritance folder before once again vanishing into the Gringotts archive.

"Now back to Mr Peters' inheritance. We shall start with the Grand Duchy of Gryffindor. Again these vaults have been untouched since the Gryffindor himself lived and as such you have a total net worth in gold of 498 million galleons. However the Gryffindor family is a very old once so you do have 17 castles and manors throughout Britain all in perfect repair and protected by very old and powerful blood wards. They are currently being maintained by a team of 120 house elves, roughly 7 per property, but the exact number does vary with the size of the property. You also have the traditional seat on the Hogwarts board of governors and Wizengamot, and you get ¼ of the fees that each Hogwarts student pays as they are technically leasing your castle and grounds." 

This revelation caused Peters to splutter, "I beg your pardon? Do you mean that I actually own Hogwarts?"

Ragnok, looking decidedly amused, replied "That is a rather interesting question. Yes you do own the castle and the land, but as long as a blood descendant of Gryffindor attends the school and the school keep a certain academic record, you are obliged to allow it to be used as a school."

"Oh" said Peters rather ineffectually.

"Finally" continued Ragnok "you have also inherited the Gryffindor armoury which has approximately 764 million galleons worth of goblin made armour and jewellery in it, other than the legendary sword of Gryffindor which is currently at Hogwarts, but can be reclaimed at any time should you chose too." It was clear that Ragnok was not happy having all of that goblin craftsmanship out of his reach. "Please sign these documents to confirm that you are accepting the title and inheritance."

Once again more pieces of parchment were handed over to be signed before being filed away. Next a small box was passed to Peters who opened it and slid a gold ring with a ruby lion on it onto his left ring finger. Peters closed his eyes as he felt magic acknowledge his claim and he felt his small legion of house elves recognise him as their new master as well as the wards of his properties being transferred to him.

After a few moments Ragnok moved on "Next we come to the Slytherin inheritance. As the Grand Duke Slytherin you have a total net worth in gold of 1274 million, easily the largest of the raw fortunes of the founders. You also inherit 5 properties, three castles, one manor and one chamber of secrets all maintained by spells not house elves, although you do have one pet basilisk. One of the castles contains Slytherin's private potions laboratory and library with a worth of at least a billion galleons as well as some extinct fauna and flora samples. Again you have a seat on the Hogwarts board of governors and the Wizengamot. Please sign these papers to confirm that you accept your inheritance."

Once again papers were signed an filled and Peters added another ring to his left hand, this time a silver ring with an emerald serpent. This time there were no house elves, but he could feel the basilisk through the ring and he shuddered. Ragnok then handed him the two leather files containing inheritance details such as the locations of properties, names of house elves and where they were assigned and monetary information.

"Finally I also suggest you fill in proxy documents, but it is your choice. All of this and your soul bond does make you legal adults, but it might be prudent to wait until you graduate to reveal your identities."

Peters nodded and his eyes narrowed. "Lord Black would you be willing to be my proxy? Feel free to refuse, I know that if you accept you will be a rather large target and be thrust straight into the political limelight."

Orion Black nodded without hesitation, he had been fairly sure that this would happen, and Harrison Peters was family; family was everything to the Blacks. More documents were signed and Orion was given two more tokens in addition to the Ravenclaw token that would prove that he had the right to cast those votes.

As Ragnok reached for the final file there was a tension in the room now that hadn't been there before. Although the previous inheritances had been very important and prestigious, they had known vaguely what to expect legally as the powers that came with their new positions. This position however was an unknown.

Ragnok cleared his throat. Even the goblin seemed nervous. "As Prince of Avalon you inherit vault number 1 which has a total net worth of 76 billion galleons making you the richest wizard alive without your other inheritances. You also get Avalon Island and Avalon castle which only you will be able to find. We have no information as to where Avalon Island is or as to what is on it. Legally you are now Head of the Wizengamot, and it is within your power to dissolve the Wizengamot and restore the Monarchy with you at its head if you so chose. You also have diplomatic immunity and as such any actions taken by yourself or your consort are above and beyond reproach. You are legally untouchable. You are also head of the magical creature council which was disbanded by the Wizengamot illegally over 700 years ago and dealt with all illegal acts by magical creatures and their rights and was an independent governing body closely linked with the ICW. As soon as you sign the documents accepting your position the council will be automatically reformed. Furthermore you are also the head of the ICW. You don't replace Dumbledore you simply take the position that is above his and that hasn't been used since Merlin lived. You cannot appoint a proxy. However you do have the option of wearing a glamour. Luckily the ICW will not meet again until the New Year, and even then you are not obligated to attend until you turn 17. However you do need to sign these documents here."

For the final time Ragnok slid pieces of parchment across his desk to be signed. By this point Sirius looked shocked at the amount of power that his husband had, but had not yet recognised the full implications. Orion however had and was white and shaking. He was the father in law of potentially the next King of the magical world. He really needed a drink. With shaking hands Peters signed the document and once again they glowed, but this time gold, before vanishing.

Peters took a deep steadying breath before reaching out and taking the first of the three boxes that were left on Ragnok's desk. Opening the box he took out a mythril ring with a crossed wand and a sword in gold and diamonds with a crown in the centre in mythril. Shaking he slid the magical ring onto his finger. For a moment nothing happened and then he felt it. He could feel the magical signatures of every member of the Wizengamot and the ICW, every Lord and their chosen heir as well as the chosen creature representatives. But what was more he could feel Avalon and the magic that seemed to flow and ripple from the island making him wonder how he had ever missed its presence.

After a long moment he took the second box and opened it. Inside was a mythril torque with embedded precious stones, and the crests of all the noble houses bound to his authority if he were to be King. He stared for a long moment before shutting the box and placing it back on the desk. He would need it when he attended the ICW in his official capacity but not before. It gave him the creeps. He didn't even bother to open the final box, any fool could tell what was inside, instead he spoke "Ragnok would you mind taking those two boxes back to the Merlin vault? I shall come and collect the torque as and when I need it."

Ragnok eyed him interestedly for a long moment before nodding and reclaiming the two precious boxes. He did however hand over the last leather file to Peters and spoke again in his raspy voice "all of our files can only be opened by those in possession of the correct rings. We suggest that you discourage others from attempting to pry, the results will be...unpleasant".

The goblin then glanced at a device on his desk before continuing "It is now 11:07 in the morning. I have other business to attend to, however you may use this office until midday if you have things to discuss", clearly having accomplished all that he had intended to Ragnok moved towards the door of his office leaving behind him a white and shaking Lord Black and a highly traumatised Prince of Avalon. As he reached the door however he turned and addressed them all one last time; "the whiskey can be found in the cabinet on your right", before closing the door and leaving the three men alone.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Ten minutes later after a thoroughly amused Sirius watched his father down his fourth glass of fire whisky they got down to business. As usual Orion was the first to speak, "Sirius I suggest that you take the Black and Ravenclaw folders with you to Hogwarts and familiarise yourself with them. We can go and examine your various estates over Christmas. We can't really have you missing too much more school." Orion paused slightly to have another glass of whisky; "I also suggest that you start reading the Daily Prophet, I expect that my name will be coming up frequently now that I am a founder's proxy, and by association there will be a lot of speculation about my successor. You will have to be able to cope with the attention."

"Harrison I assume that you will take and familiarise yourself with your folders. Your estates will take more time to visit and explore, but again I suggest that you wait until the holidays. You will be notified of all Black family meetings, the first of which will be this Saturday. Sirius your ring will act as a portkey to Black Manor and will take you and Harrison. Make sure you wait until you are past the Hogwarts wards to activate it. I shall arrange your absences with McGonagall. I suggest aiming to arrive, in formal robes, at about ten. Do remember that your grandmother lives in the Manor, she will likely have...strong opinions of her own."

"Who exactly will be at the meeting" asked Sirius looking nervous. He and his family didn't exactly have the best of relationships.

"Obviously us, and unfortunately your mother" Sirius grimaced "Regulus, Andromeda and her husband, Bellatrix and by extension Rudolphus Lestrange, Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, Cygnus and Druella of course and Alphard". This last name seemed to cheer Sirius up, and Harrison vaguely remembered a blackened hole on the Black Family Tapestry in his time. Sadly Orion wasn't finished and the parade of names continued; "My mother Melanina, Pollux and Irma – Wallburga and Cynus' parents he added for Harrison's benefit – and finally your great aunt Cassiopeia."

They sat in silence for a few moments and Sirius looked hopefully at the bottle of firewhisky before remembering that he had school. He sighed. He really hated some of his extended family; his grandparents Pollux and Irma in particular. That branch of the Black family had always been less sane and more prejudiced than most. Bellatrix had always reminded him rather depressingly of his mother, and as she took after her father...let's just say family reunions were not his favourite things. A gentle hand on his shoulder brought him back to the present.

"Siri" started Harrison looking surprisingly hesitant "we need to talk about what you will tell your friends. I know it will be difficult...especially knowing what you know now, but you have to come to a decision".

Orion focused sharply on the conversation; what happened next would be important. Sirius sighed again, "I can't not tell James. He...he is like a brother to me, and he is a pureblood heir, he will understand the significance of it being old magic." Sirius paused, "I'm not telling him the whole truth though, if he knew that you used to be his son, best friend and old magic or not I definitely wouldn't survive the confrontation", he smiled rather ruefully.

"Remus, I don't know. He hates old pureblood families, especially ones like mine as they are usually the ones that pass the laws against his kind. They condemn him to poverty and prejudice. I don't think he'll be all that excepting of my new...position. Peter I don't even want to talk about."

Harrison sighed. This would not be a comfortable conversation. "Siri, you need to understand something. You can't condemn Peter for his actions and not condemn Remus for his." Sirius looked confused and tried to interrupt, but Harrison over rode him, "look, Peter betrayed my parents to Voldemort and cost them their lives, but Remus was the executer of my parents' will, a will that clearly stated that I wasn't to go to the Dursleys. Peter destroyed my first chance at a happy life, but Remus and Dumbledore condemned me to hell on earth." He paused to glance quickly at a horrified Sirius, "you have to understand Sirius, that Dumbledore by allowing Remus to have a magical education essentially guaranteed himself a pet werewolf, and Remus' devotion to Dumbledore was no less fanatical or damaging than Peter's was to Voldermort".

He could tell from the look on Orion's face that he understood as he glanced at his son in pity. Sirius looked heartbroken, "I guess I've lost them both, I'll..."

"No Siri" Harrison interrupted "that wasn't my point. Neither Remus nor Peter are those people yet, but that is who they could be, so I was simply advocating caution. You have to understand, as I didn't really when I first arrived, that the people that you know aren't the people that I knew. Just as you are my Sirius, damaged, devoted but broken, these aren't my Remus and Peter or even my Bellatrix, completely cracked and fanatical. It is difficult, the first time I saw Bellatrix I wanted to kill her again, but gradually I noticed that she was more moral...marginally mind you...she wasn't quite crazy yet, only teetering on the edge of sanity. If she falls then I would have no problems in removing her, or Peter or Remus, but they haven't fallen yet."

He looked up to find both Sirius and Orion giving him strange looks. "What?"

Sirius answered, even though he was sill eyeing him strangely, "I suppose I never really took you for the forgiving type. I saw you as more of a vengeance man."

Harrison sighed again, they were missing the point. "I'm not the forgiving type as you put it, but if I went for vengeance I would have killed half of the students of Hogwarts! I couldn't afford not to be forgiving!" He paused again willing them to understand, "what's more...I...I saw what Peter's betrayal did to you Sirius, it broke you in ways that Azkaban could not, and when you learnt of Remus' on top, well... you were so...damaged...by it. I don't want to see you like that again. So tell your friends about being Black heir. Explain it to them and keep your calm. Tell them about our marriage if you want, but don't tell them about you other title or mine, and don't mention my...unusual...origins. Not yet anyway. Wait and see; they might not become the people that they did in my time."

Sirius seemed to think for a moment before nodding quietly. It was time to go.

Orion stood gracefully and strode to the door. As he reached it he turned and raised an eyebrow, "Shall we?"

Sirius and Harrison stood and followed Orion out of Gringotts and back towards the Leaky Caldron. They would floo back to the Headmaster's office. They received several looks as they headed towards the pub, but on the whole people were too busy with their own business to notice or bother them. Once they reached the leaky Caldron Sirius hugged his father goodbye drawing many shocked looks from the pub's customers and poor Orion looked scandalised. Hugging in the privacy of one's home was one thing, but in public! It just wasn't done! Harrison offered the horrified man a wry grin before following Sirius back to school. After several moments Orion managed to pull himself together and disapparated with a crack.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

James Potter was bored. The days following the full moon were always difficult; Remus would be tired, cranky and just out of the hospital wing, and he himself hardly any less tired or sore. The only thing that made the day after the full moon bearable was the lively antics of Sirius Black. But Sirius wasn't here. Sirius had vanished the previous day before lunch and hadn't come back that night or this morning. It was now the last lesson of the afternoon. This meant that not only was he sore and tired but he was also worrying over Sirius' absence. McGonagall had been no help simply stating "family matters" through pursed lips. This statement had not reassured James Potter. As far as he was concerned Sirius' family was a bunch of flaming loonies and he didn't want Sirius anywhere near them. He sighed and prodded his racoon with his wand. Normally transfiguration was his best subject, but not today. Today his racoon looked nothing like a squirrel, instead it more closely resembled a mouse that had been dunked in black ink. However just as McGonagall opened her mouth to berate him however he was saved by a polite knock on the door.

Minerva McGonagall was not having a good lesson. Of course any lesson with the marauders in was almost always trying, but she would certainly rather have lively, trouble causing marauders than apathetic, useless marauders. But just as she was about to berate James Potter on his unusually pitiful attempt there was a knock on the door. She turned and in walked Sirius Black.

Now Sirius Black should have been in her class already but that bossy, self-righteous, stuck-up father of his had pulled him out of school yesterday without so much as a by your leave! It was then that something else struck her. Sirius Black had knocked – surely the apocalypse was nigh! Everyone knew that Sirius Black did not knock, no he strode into rooms and caused chaos and disrupted classes by setting his and Potter's transfigured cockerels at each other and then taking bets on the outcome of the ensuing fight! Furthermore Sirius Black had tucked in his shirt and his robes were actually hanging neatly in all the right places. Warning bells began to go off in Minerva's mind. Was this an imposter and the marauders latest prank?

She chanced a look at Potter only to see her own confusion – mixed with relief – mirrored on his face. Not a group prank then, but that didn't mean that Black hadn't decided to go solo! While she was deliberating however Black has walked – prowled really – into the classroom and sat down in at the empty seat next to Potter. Minerva made an effort to recover herself. "Mr Black, now that you have finally joined us perhaps you would like to transfigure Mr Potter's racoon into a squirrel." She waited for Black to make some ludicrous excuse, but to her shock he just smiled cheerfully at her and said "of course Professor" and with a wave of his wand transfigured the racoon.

At least, thought Minerva that was what he had meant to do, and had, to an extent, succeeded. Sadly however instead of one normal sized squirrel Sirius ended up with 17 mutant squirrels each about the size of a baby elephant. Several promptly began to wreck the classroom while at least 13 of the squirrels rand out of the classroom to havoc in the rest of the school. The look of abject horror on Black's face was enough to convince Minerva that it hadn't been deliberate; however this clearly wasn't the opinion of most of the class.

James Potter in particular was clearly delighted by the turn of events, and had in fact fallen off his chair he was laughing so much. Dorcas Meadows seemed to find the prank less funny as one of the squirrels had taken a liking to her jewellery and was currently engaged in a tug of war with the giant squirrel. Sighing at the chaos Minerva gave up and dismissed the class. Most of the students hurried out clutching their belongings tightly. Sadly for the students and Minerva the squirrels joined the exodus.

Minerva closed her eyes and sighed; she did not need this today. Much to her surprise when she opened her eyes Sirius Black was standing in front of her. He looked, she thought, rather abashed by the chaos he had caused. "I'm sorry professor. I know that it is unusual, but I really didn't intend for that to happen; I think I accidentally overpowered the spell."

Minerva sighed. He did look honest and truth be told the marauders did tend to own up when they had committed a prank. "Apology accepted Mr Black. Was there anything else?"

Sirius managed to look rather sheepish before seeming to shake himself and straightening up addressed her in a formal tone, "yes Professor. I am also notifying you that I shall be absent this coming weekend and shall be leaving the Hogwarts grounds early on Saturday morning to conduct family matters." He took a deep breath, "As the Black family heir is also my duty to ask you as Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts to allow my cousins and their betrotheds as well as my brother and Harrison Peters to accompany me. My father Lord Black shall be arranging the portkeys and shall owl you further details. I respectfully ask that you keep my elevation quiet at this time until the family makes a formal announcement. You may inform the staff but ask that it be kept within the confines of the staff room, and that you not inform them until the next staff meeting this Sunday as by then my family shall have been informed and it is their right to know first."

Minerva blinked. She was in shock. She glanced at Sirius' hand for confirmation. Well bugger that. Sirius Black, the infamous blood traitor had been made the family's heir. She noticed him staring and realised that she hadn't given him an answer, "Of course Mr Black, and may I offer my congratulations?"

"Thank you Professor" and with that Sirius turned and swept from the classroom towards Gryffindor tower and the waiting ambush and interrogation he was sure awaited him.

Minerva McGonagall stared after him for a few moments before straightening her hat and following him out of the classroom, although in her case it was explain to the rest of the staff why there were 17 mutant squirrels vandalising the school and then to try and catch them. She sighed. Life was certainly full of surprises.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Sirius stared at the portrait hole that led to Gryffindor tower, opened his mouth to say the password, and then stopped and stared again. This was ridiculous. How hard could it be to say "hippogriff"? Well very hard apparently as he closed his mouth yet again. Okay. That was it. He was a Gryffindor for crying out loud! Opening his mouth again he was sure that he was going to get the word out this time –

However the Fat Lady had had enough. Giving him a scathing look she rather tartly announced "this is certainly one of your less amusing pranks, but well after the squirrels I suppose you're allowed a couple of duds" before promptly opening to admit him.

This was just so unfair! Those squirrels were not in purpose! Was it his fault that his wand had decided to act up? It had been just fine yesterday. What could have changed?...Oh...soul bond. Try as he might Sirius couldn't really justify calling that a minor change even in his own head. It was only then that he noticed the cheers. It seemed that James was waiting to congratulate him on what he clearly thought was a highly amusing prank. Just great; and the day had started off so well.

"Padfoot old pal excellent prank! Really livened up the lesson and even got us out ten minutes early! What spell did you use to duplicate the squirrel?" James asked happily.

"James, now really isn't..."

"Nonsense Pads! Tell us how you did it, and where you've been! Snivellous claimed that you'd been suspended – the greasy git!"

By now the entire common room was watching interestedly, including Remus and Peter. As he looked at them he couldn't help but feel a stab of anger, they had abandoned him...or would...maybe...oh bollocks. Ry was right. They weren't those people yet. He was brought back to the present by Remus;

"Sirius are you okay? You wouldn't believe some of the rumours flying around!"

"Yes Black, tell us, how was the family?"

Sirius froze. The common room fell silent. Sirius chanced a glance at James who was looking bemused before turning slowly to face Frank Longbottom the Head Boy, who was clutching what looked to be a recently opened letter and was staring at him with loathing.

"Frank, mate, what are you on about? You know Pads here doesn't have anything to do with that mad house!" James inserted in a confused tone.

Sirius couldn't quite suppress a wince.

"Really Potter? Then why was he seen at Gringotts this morning with his father and then taken straight to a private interview with Ragnok himself? And why then did my Uncle who works in the inheritance division at the Ministry owl me with the news that a new Black heir was formally invested this morning?"

If Sirius had thought that the situation couldn't get any worse he was wrong. This was not suppost to be happening! He had only planned to tell a few people now, and Frank Longbottom certainly wasn't one of them! Before he could open his mouth however to suggest that they move somewhere else Peter was speaking.

"Sirius hates his family; he even lives at James' during the holidays! You're uncle must have made a mistake."

Longbottom raised an eyebrow and looked at Peter condescendingly. "Maybe he is Pettigrew, but there is an easy way to check isn't there Lupin? Why don't you tell us – after all you are the brains of your little group."

Remus answered slowly, all the while flicking between looking at Sirius with concern and Frank with dislike, "If Sirius has been named heir then he will be wearing the Black heir's ring on the ring finger of his right hand. Lords wear then on their left hand."

Frank clapped sarcastically. "Well the Black, show us your hand"

Sirius' brain had stopped working. This was very bad. But just as he opened his mouth to tell Longbottom to shove off James did perhaps the most unhelpful thing in the world.

"Sure he will, Sirius has nothing to hide!" and before Sirius could move James grabbed his right hand and thrust it outwards for the whole common room to see. "Look! I told you that there would be nothing there!"

Sadly for James silence met this announcement. He looked at Sirius bewildered only to find that his friend had closed his eyes and seemed to be in pain. He turned to look at the whole of Gryffindor house assembled before him and followed their gaze slowly to Sirius' hand. He stared for a moment and then dropped Sirius' hand as though it were poisonous, because there on Sirius' ring finger was the Black heir ring.

James stared at Sirius. He didn't understand what was happening. It just wasn't possible. Then the silence was broken with a cry of "fununculus!"

A jet of light shot towards Sirius who had no time to reach for his wand – not that it would have worked anyway irritating hunk of wood – only to be bounced off a shield that appeared in front of him, emanating from the Black Heir ring. The shield bounced out to life and pushed James and Remus away from Sirius, leaving him standing alone, isolated, yet proud and defiant in front of the condemning glares of his house.

"James, Remus, Peter, we need to talk. I suggest we go somewhere else however, I don't really fancy getting hexed again."

With that Sirius turned and stalked through the crowd that parted easily before him, unwilling it seemed, to touch him now, and headed up to his dormitory. He steeled his nerves, it was now or never.

**I know that this is a shorter chapter than most, but I'm hoping to have another one up this weekend because this scene just read better as two chapters than one. **

**Please review!**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Remus, James and Peter enter the dorm behind him and shut the door. Sirius heard Remus mutter "muffliato". He could put this off no longer. It was time to face his friends.

Sirius turned and smiled, or at least he tried to. He opened his mouth to talk but then faltered, what if they rejected him? Just as he was about to panic he felt a reassuring warmth envelop him from the inside out: Ry. He would always have Ry even if he had no one else. It was an oddly comforting thought. He let out the breath that he hadn't realised he was holding and opened his eyes.

Remus looked oddly wary, Peter confused, and James betrayed.

"I suppose you want to know what happened yesterday?"

He was favoured with several irritated looks.

"In short, my father decided to name me Black heir. I decided to accept."

James looked at me incredulously, "that's it? That's all you're going to tell us?" Remus and Peter nodded their agreement.

Sirius decided to take the safest course, "I'll answer any questions that you ask me." If they didn't ask then he didn't have to tell them, and then it certainly wouldn't be his fault if they didn't know.

Remus narrowed his eyes, "why now? Traditionally an heir is confirmed when they come of age. We were all under the impression that you wouldn't be chosen at all, but if you were to be chosen, why now before you turn 17?"

Bugger. Well that was a question that Sirius didn't want to answer. It was time to wake up some of his dormant Slytherin traits: "My mother and father has a...falling out, and the result was that she revealed that she had been purposely distancing me from the family, trying to drive me away so that Regulus – her favourite – could inherit. I suppose by doing what he did my father not only took his revenge on my mother, but he also informed Regulus that if he had any ambitions in that direction then they were unfounded." There, that was the truth, perhaps not the whole truth, but close enough that Moony wouldn't smell the lie.

Now it was James' turn, "But why did you accept Sirius? You have never exactly been the model Black heir or even taken any interest in trying to change. You hate your family. You live with me in all but name in the holidays! Why did you bind yourself to them? Explain!"

"I...I don't like Bellatrix or Narcissa very much, but I don't hate them. I don't hate my father, I never really knew him so how could I hate him? It...it was also a chance to have what you all have... a proper father son relationship. I wasn't going to pass that up. Regulus and I only ever came into real contention because of mother, so hopefully now I can have my little brother back. And you know I was close to Andy, and now she isn't going to be disowned for marrying a muggleborn! I did this for my family, so that I can finally have one, but also to help them!"

"But what about us," Peter asked sounding surprisingly down, "I thought that the marauders were you family".

Sirius took a deep breath, "you are my family, but would you chose me over your blood family? " He could guess the answer from their guilty faces, "but anyway why do they have to be mutually exclusive? Why can't I have both? Sure we would have tone down the pranks a bit, or at least have an ironclad alibi. Be a bit more attentive in class, dress more formally, but nothing huge!"

"And what about me, your family despises `half-breeds`. Will you abandon me now?" Remus asked looking strangely accepting and bitterly disappointed.

"Of course not!" Remus raised an incredulous eyebrow, "yes some of my family, well most, are prejudiced gits, but not my father! He knows and he understands! Oh come on Remus, Dumbledore couldn't let you attend without permission from the Board of Governors and my father is on it! He is the only one above me in the family, the others have no say in who I befriend, and he doesn't mind! He voted to allow you into Hogwarts for Merlin's sake!"

"Alright Pads!" James interrupted."We...we just didn't expect this. But we are the marauders, you know we'll stick by you!"

Remus seemed to have been cowed by Sirius' speech and nodded absentmindedly. Peter just agreed with James as usual.

"But" continued James "we will need to do something about the rest of the Gryffindors; your family - especially Bellatrix - haven't exactly endeared themselves to our house. I know that's not your fault! I know Pads, but that doesn't change the fact that you are a Black to them now, before you were just Sirius."

"They'll come round" interjected Remus softly, "it is just the shock. It is so unexpected. Give them a few weeks and they'll come around...as long as you don't start in on any of that pureblood superiority crap. Longbottom will be the bigger problem. Do you know why he is so hostile?"

Sirius snorted, "not the foggiest, James?"

James shifted slightly and sighed. "You have understand that the Potter family and the Longbottom family have always been close, my mother was very close to Mrs Longbottom, but that caused a problem."

"How?"

"Well my mother was a Black before she married, it was an arranged marriage, but they are very happy. Frank's parents marriage was also arranged, but it...well it was less happy. Mrs Longbottom felt isolated according to mum, and one day my mum introduced her to Alphard Black her nephew, but they were close, I think because neither of them really bought all that pureblood crap."

"Uncle Al?"

"Yeah. I think mum hoped that Mrs Longbottom would have another friend, but instead they had an affair. Frank's dad found out but couldn't divorce her, it just wasn't done in pureblood families in those days. Frank blames Alphard Black for ruining his parent's marriage, but worse Frank's mum began spending a lot of time with Frank to `save him from his father's clutches`. From what I hear Frank became the main weapon in their arguments. They don't talk any more apparently. As Frank sees it the Blacks destroyed his family."

They sat in silence for a moment. "Well Frank isn't going to let that one go. I guess I'll just have to put up with him".

"Yeah"

Why was life never simple?

The rest of the evening was spent in silence in our dorm. None of us really felt like facing the rest of our house. Eventually it was time to sleep, they would deal with everything tomorrow.

Just as he was drifting off Sirius made a mental note to talk to Ry in the morning; he would want to know how much Sirius had told the marauders. Sirius shivered at the thought of his husband, his Ry, and fell asleep with a soft smile on his face.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The rest of the week passed surprisingly quickly for Sirius. Of course his situation had taken some adjusting to, not only for the Gyrffindors but also the rest of the school. Many bemused and shocked looks has been shared when he had shown up to breakfast on Wednesday morning promptly, in the correct uniform, which was even for Merlin's sake done up properly. To the staff Sirius Black seemed to look more like that year's prefect than Lupin! When Sirius had then eaten a healthy balanced breakfast while reading a newspaper, well no one was quite sure what to make of it.

It did admittedly help Sirius' situation that Professor McGonagall had been informed of the incident in the common room by a furious Frank Longbottom. Unfortunately for Frank however McGonagall had ripped into him before shouting herself hoarse at the rest of her house and swearing them to silence on pain of eternal detention until she told them otherwise. Thus the other houses were completely in the dark about this sudden and to them bizarre change in behaviour.

Several Slytherins however were watching him very closely. Sirius was sure that his family had guessed what had happened, especially when letters from Gringotts confirming their betrothal contracts and the added clauses. Sirius watched their responses, and to his surprise Malfoy had seemed relieved by the change, but Lestrange was clearly furious. Regulus seemed to be withholding judgement. Only a few minutes later owls arrived detailing arrangements for that Saturday's family meeting, no one missed the calculating looks that passed over the faces of almost every Slytherin. By the end of Wednesday everyone in Slytherin knew that a Black heir had been chosen and that it was not Regulus Black. Coupled with his changes in behaviour by the end of the week almost every Slytherin and Gryffindor knew that Sirius Black was the Black heir. The Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs however remained in the dark.

As for Sirius himself the biggest problem that he was facing was not a hostile Gryffindor house, nor even a disgusted and wary Slytherin house, but instead he was missing his husband. Rationally he knew that it was ridiculous, they had been married for not even 24 hours and they had only slept together once, but that didn't seem to stop him from feeling discontented and bereft every morning he woke up alone in his single bed in Gryffindor tower. He supposed that it was the influence of the soul bond.

His week had also gotten much easier when an owl had arrived on Thursday morning from his father containing a custom made wand of wenge wood with a core of Grim's heartstring soaked in the blood of a Chinese fireball and bound to him only using a sample of his blood provided by the goblins. Apparently the unspeakables had owled his father and suggest that he invest in a new wand for Sirius and they had suggested the materials. Sirius had caught his breath at the sight of the beautiful wand and had touched it with relief as he felt it connect to his magic and accept him. He had no more troubles with overcharging his spells after that much to his relief – no more mutant squirrels.

All of the staff had noted Sirius' changed attitude, and Minerva had promised to explain at the next staff meeting scheduled for that Sunday afternoon, but meanwhile the staff found themselves daring to believe that they were safe from pranks and being target by the seemingly retired marauders.

The Slytherins also began to breathe easy as they were ignored by the marauders. Even Snape was ignored by Black, and Potter had followed his best friend's lead after what appeared to be a moment of silent deliberation. Only Regulus remained tense and nervous. His position as the one of the up and coming leaders of Slytherin house was now weakened as many had only supported him on the grounds that he was expected to be the next Black heir. Now that he had been passed over his support base was crumbling. In fact Regulus was fairly sure that it would have vanished completely had it not been for the silent support of Harrison Peters who had risen to power in Slytherin with unprecedented speed. With Peters support he was now attempting to stabilise his position, but he wouldn't really know what his position was until he after the family meeting. It was a mess, and sadly he had only himself to blame for it. He had listened to his mother, not at first, at first he had nodded at her and then ignored what she said, but somewhere along the line he had begun to see himself as the Black heir and had begun indicating that it was a certain choice to the students who mattered. Well now he was dealing with the aftermath, and he couldn't honestly say that he didn't deserve it.

Rudolphus Lestrange was also uneasy but for different reasons. That new clause in the betrothal contract would not please his father, not that they had any say in the matter. The contract has been signed, and if they broke it now they would have to pay out a significant amount of wealth, possibly more than they could afford. But really he reasoned, it wasn't his fault that that clause had been added, no it was his father's for overestimating the amount of control that Cygnus had over his older brother. It did however put him in a sticky situation as some of his contacts he would now have to distance himself from, not to mention the problem it caused with Bellatrix – she was already unhealthily devoted to the Dark Lord. However he consoled himself with words that had helped him get through many years as a key target of the marauders, it was all Sirius Black's fault!

Saturday dawned bright and clear and Sirius said goodbye to James, Remus and Peter after breakfast before heading towards the front doors. Over the week Gryffindor had slowly become less hostile and now seemed to be on the whole very apologetic about their overreaction; Longbottom however had, if anything, gotten even more hostile towards him the irritating git.

As he descended the front steps in his formal robes he was greeted with a sight that caused him to smile, there waiting for him in the early morning sun was his Ry. With a casual nod to the other boy they headed towards the front gates together. Sirius was desperate to at the very least hold his husband's hand, but he knew they couldn't risk being seen yet, it was too big of a risk. After what seemed like an age to Sirius they passed through the wrought iron gates and were finally out of sight of the castle, and Sirius had had enough. Before Ry could say anything Sirius all but threw himself into his husband's arms and happily began snogging the life out of him. After a few minutes he drew back. He would have happily stayed that way forever but they couldn't, they needed to go to Black Manor for the family meeting.

Sirius allowed himself one last moment to stare into Ry's beautiful eyes, softened in that way that they only did for him, before drawing himself up and activating the portkey.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Black Manor was a beautiful stone mansion; regal and elegant, yet unlike Malfoy Manor it remained unpretentious. It had 7 floors and over 200 bedrooms, but now most of them were closed off and only really the bottom three floors were used, even when they held their traditional Yule ball as there were no longer enough pureblood guests to fill the mansion like their had been 500 years ago. Sirius had never really liked Black Manor, but then he supposed that it was because they only ever went there to visit his Grandmother, and she was certainly a monster, but to his surprise when he appeared there with his husband that Saturday morning he felt a surge of pride that his family owned and maintained such a beautiful building.

Sirius, still holding Ry's hand, walked up to the black iron gates embossed with the family crest and touched it with his ring. The gates swung open and they saw the manor for the first time, magnificent and proud, sitting in 200 acres of land, 50 acres of which were landscaped gardens and the lake; the rest was covered with a stunning forest. Squeezing Ry's hand for reassurance Sirius led him towards an open carriage being pulled by two Pegasi, which, as soon as they had gotten in, moved off up the sweeping drive towards the manor.

All too soon for Sirius' liking they had arrived. He paused at the front door for moment, should he knock or just walk in? As he deliberated he noticed that Ry was watching in amusement. He glowered at him before sighing and pushing open the door. The boys walked together across the marble floor, their footsteps ringing out, Sirius leading the way by memory to the main parlour. They walked in comfortable silence down several corridors until they reached an oak door which Sirius pushed open and together they entered a large room with oak panelling and dark green carpets and furniture.

"Sirius, Harrison, you are right on time" greeted Orion Black from his seat at the head of the large oak table in the centre of the room.

With a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach Sirius strode towards his father and pulled him into a hug. He really had missed this, and he'd be damned if proper pureblood behaviour made him give it up again.

Ry watched in amusement as Orion's face froze in a look of horror before relaxing and hugging his eldest son back. Ry supposed that Orion would just have to adjust to hugs, one of the draw backs, or benefits depending on how you looked at it, of having a Gryffindor heir.

When Sirius finally pulled back Ry watched Orion shift uncomfortably in his chair, clearly flustered, before beginning again. "Right. Well, good morning. Sirius come and sit on my right and help yourself to coffee; Harrison on my left."

Both boys sat in their allotted seats, but not before Sirius cast one last look of longing at Ry and was rewarded with a gentle kiss. "Dad, doesn't Uncle Cygnus usually sit on your left?"

Orion cast Sirius a swift look before replying, "Indeed, however things have changed Sirius, as you well know. Harrison is the most important person at the meeting, not to mention his...unusual...insights. On that not the next meeting of the full Wizengamot is the first Monday in the New Year. I shall announce that your Duchies have been filled and that I am your proxy then. I assume that you want your names withheld?" He received two nods. "Harrison I shall not mention your...most illustrious title, I shall leave that for when you come of age. I expect that if I were to announce it now it would cause more harm than good, as that title cannot be announced without a name."

"When is the rest of the family arriving?" asked Sirius, he needed to know how much longer he had before he was thrown into the snake's pit.

"In about two minutes" came the cool and collected reply.

Sirius whimpered.

Exactly two minutes later the doors to the study opened and the Black family plus Rudolphus Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy entered. Cygnus Black began to stride towards his usual seat only to freeze upon realising that it was occupied. Other than the Hogwarts students who had expected to see Sirius Black already present the rest of the family froze.

"Please sit down. We shall start in a moment we are simply waiting for our last two members."

"Orion..." began Cygnus and Walburga in unison.

"I said sit down." This time Orion's tone of voice was less inviting and more threatening.

By the time the family had settled, with much moaning and complaining on some parts the last member of the group had been noticed.

"Peters?" asked a startled and confused Bellatrix. "What is he doing here?"

Orion fixed her with a looks, "we shall wait for the last two members of our...family...to arrive."

The Black family sat there in silence, sitting absolutely still as befitted proper purebloods and about three minutes later the door to the study opened again. The silence was maintained for a moment before the uproar began.

"Andy?"

"Dromeda"

"You traitorous bitch! Betrayer of your family line! I disowned you; get out!"

Androemda Tonks however sniffed in distain before entering the room fully and taking one of the remaining seats, and it was only then that the Black family noticed who was accompanying her.

Cygnus looked as though he was about to have a seizure. Lucius, Bellatrix, Rudolphus, Cassiopeia, Narcissa and Druella turned their noses up and bestowed upon Ted Tonks looks of loathing and distain. Melania fainted. Pollux and Irma looked as though they didn't quite believe what they were seeing. Walburga, predictable had begun to screech.

"Mudblood! Shame of society! Filthy..."

"Enough!" roared Orion before the situation could degenerate any further. When silence was eventually restored and his mother revived he continued, "you are all here to be informed of some changes in the Black family. First off, as I am sure you have noticed, a Black family heir has been named."

A resentful silence met these words. It was abundantly clear that the older members of the Black family were not pleased with his choice in heir.

"Secondly" continued Orion, "the betrothal contracts between the Noble and Ancient house of Black and the Noble house of Lestrange and the Noble house of Malfoy have been finalised. I am assuming that there are no objections to the contracts?"

Again there was a silence as everyone turned to the four young adults involved in the contracts. "I have a question" stated Rudolphus, "why was the extra clause added?"

A low murmuring broke out among those seated at the table.

Orion raised an eyebrow, "I assume that you mean the part about not joining vigilante groups?"

A tense nod was his reply. Walburga looked appalled by this change, not that he was surprised.

"It is beneath the dignity of members of the House of Black or those who wish to associate closely with us to participate in thuggish clubs such as the Death Eaters and to swear allegiance to a pretender to a title to which he has no claim especially since he broke one of our oldest laws."

There was silence again until Bellatrix snarled "how dare you spread lies about the Dark Lord!"

Orion stared her down. It was already there, plain as day, the fanaticism which would destroy not only her but his legacy. "You will be silent Bellatrix. You will not join the Death Eaters or you will be in violation of your contract and lose your magic. That is all."

Again murmurs of descent could be heard particularly from Walburga's immediate family. He idly wondered if insanity was an inherited trait.

"Moving on, I have also rejected the petition for the disownment of Andromeda Tonks nee Black. She and her husband are to be welcomed into our family ranks."

After this statement he received a number of incredulous looks. It was clear that they could not fathom the reasons for this move. However two pairs of eyes in particular caught his attention, Andromeda's shining with gratitude and Ted Tonk's shining with respect. This clearly meant a great deal to the couple. As he stared at them Andromeda casually put her hand on her stomach. He smiled slowly, his reasoning should be clear to everyone in about 9 months time.

Unfortunately however Walburga was not about to let this go, "Have you gone senile Orion? How dare you bring shame upon this family by allowing such filth entry!" she shrieked. Several heads nodded their agreement.

Orion took a deep breath, "may I remind you Walburga that you are already under house arrest? You are only here out of courtesy and as such it would do if you could show some intelligence and hold your tongue!"

This was clearly news to the majority of the room. It didn't surprise Orion that Walburga hadn't told anyone of her punishment, not that she'd really had the opportunity.

"Are there any issues that wish to be brought up before this meeting is concluded?"

"Yes. Why is Harrison Peters here father?" asked Regulus speaking for the first time since he'd entered the room.

Orion gave his youngest son a piercing look, but he detected nothing malicious behind the question. "Harrison Peters is here because he is soul bonded and as such legally married to Sirius."

There reaction to that piece of news was entirely too amusing thought Sirius as he watched his grandmother faint for the second time. Decorum had clearly been abandoned in favour of gawping with their jaws on the table. Yes this made the meeting worth it, seeing the usually calm and collected Lucius Malfoy gapping like an imbecile.

"Then who is he?" This surprisingly intelligent question came from his uncle Alphard, "a soul bond means old magic, and we all know that old magic only affects purebloods. Peters is not a pureblood's name. So I ask again, who is he?"

Sirius watched Malfoy, Lestrange, Bellatrix, Narcissa and Regulus stare at Peters in shock.

"But he said he was a half-blood!" burst out Narcissa before blushing red at her undignified behaviour.

Orion looked questioningly at Harrison who nodded.

"Not that I feel that it is particularly any of your business" he drawled in his smooth sensual voice, "but I am officially the Grand Duke Slytherin." he announced calmly while studying his finger nails as though he had announced nothing more important than what he was having for dinner that evening.

Ry should have been a prankster though Sirius amusedly, because he had just had the pleasure of seeing all of his oh so calm and cool family completely shocked and stunned for the second time in ten minutes. Bellatrix in particular seemed shocked by the news, "but...but...the Dark Lord..."

Orion took control again, "this has all been verified by Gringotts. I don't think that I need to remind you all that you cannot repeat anything heard here to an outsider without losing your magic."

He glanced once around at the shocked faces staring back at him.

"Good. Then this meeting is concluded. Lunch will be served in the dining room until then you are free to explore. You may all go except for Regulus. I would like a word."

With that the room was slowly emptied until it was just the four of them sitting there. Regulus gulped and tried not to look nervous. He couldn't help but wander his father wanted.

**I am sorry that it took so long for me to update, but I am ccurrently trying to complete three different coursework essays and prep for exams, so expect the updates to be less frequent and more sporadic until June.**

**I have had a number of people complaining about the inheritence, but the way I calculated it the founders were very very rich, and then that money hasn't been touched in almost 1000 years; think of the interest. Slytherin has more because I see him as being a bit of a mean and miserly bastard. **

**Finally I have made Andromeda the eldest sister and Bellatrix a 7th year with Narcissa a 6th year because it fits my plot better. Both Lucius and Rudolphus are 7th years.  
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**In other news I have decided that I need a beta reader so if anyone has any suggestions or would like to volunteer please PM me.**

**Reviews are always welcome  
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	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Professor Minerva McGonagall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry stared irately at the phoenix that has just landed on her desk. Now one must not misunderstand the reason behind the glare, Minerva as a respectable light witch revered phoenixes as much as the next witch, but this particular phoenix however she wouldn't mind having a go at with her claws. She inhaled sharply threw her nose and attempted to calm herself just as said phoenix gave a chirp to remind her that it was waiting and that his missive was clearly much more important than the marked NEWT transfiguration essays it has burned to a crisp on its landing.

Taking the letter from the overgrown chicken so that it would leave before it could do any more damage Minerva exhaled noisily. An entire mornings worth of marking wasted, and she hadn't even been able to record the students' marks. Deep breaths Minerva she told herself, only to lose her temper and curse as she read the missive.

Sometimes she wondered if all that sugar hadn't addled Albus' brain. Staff meetings were not a difficult notion – they happened every Sunday at 6 p.m. so that the staff's weekends were not disturbed. Albus however seemed to take great delight in moving the meeting into the most inconvenient times possible – like in 20 minutes. She seriously doubted that anything important had happened, if it had she surely would have heard screams before now.

Well, if Albus did insist in disrupting her entire weekend he would wait until she had finished her coffee. 15 minutes Minerva leisurely rose from her chair and headed towards the staff room. She was going anywhere swiftly, not after she had spent a large portion of her week chasing down mutant squirrels.

Albus looked around the staff gathered before him in disappointment – really how hard was it to get to a meeting on time. 20 minutes was more than sufficient warning, and certainly did not justify the black looks he was receiving,

A full 10 minutes later Minerva swept into the room, Finally! He debated reprimanding her for being late, but one look at her displeased face convinced him that that would end badly for him. Instead he smiled genially down at the staff. No one smiled back. However Albus Dumbledore was not a man to be easily disheartened.

"I am so glad to see you all. I trust you have had an enjoyable weekend so far?" Albus had intended that to be a simply rhetorical question but Minerva's incredulous snort caught his attention. "Minerva?"

Minerva favoured him with one of her `you are a bumbling idiot with the mental capacity of a sheep` looks before stating disdainfully "I might have had an enjoyable weekend if some bearded fool hadn't once again decided to disrupt it for this meeting. What pray tell was so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow evening?"

Albus was ruffled as he noticed most of the staff nodding and agreeing with Minerva. However before he could speak Minerva spat

"Well? Hurry up, I have things to do and am not inclined to waste my Saturday afternoon listening to your natter."

Albus gave her a reproachful look which she ignored. "Well I had called you to tell you that sadly Professor Dockeherty our muggle studies professor has been moved to St Mungos to recover from her break down and as such I am searching for a new teacher."

Minerva snorted again "really Albus you think that that is news to us? It was obvious that Delilah wasn't going to recover. I also suppose that poor Sinistra has been roped into covering muggle studies until a replacement can be found?"

Albus blustered for a bit before saying "yes, well, Pomona also had a message for you all". The look that he received from the normally affable Professor Sprout told him that he did not appreciate being scape-goated.

"Really Albus it is nothing that couldn't have waited a day" said Sprout fixing Albus with an irritated glare, "I merely wish to inform everyone that all herbology next week has been cancelled as the green houses were badly trashed by 17 mutant squirrels last week."

Silence met this statement until Albus queried the statement; "mutant squirrels?"

Minerva sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "yes Albus, mutant squirrels. There was an incident in my 6th year transfiguration class and a student accidentally over powered a spell. Unfortunately the squirrels escaped my classroom and proceeded to cause havoc throughout the school – do keep up. I'll announce it to my house this evening Pomona and tell them that should report to the library and do something productive during that period."

Pomona Sprout nodded her agreement from across the room. Albus Dumbledore, feeling rather chastised opened his mouth to try to salvage the situation, "well then if that is all I suggest..."

"Really Albus" interrupted Minerva "you could at least ask us if there was anything else that needed to be said before you dismissed us! Honestly"

Albus Dumbledore gritted his teeth, first he was told off for trying to hold an unneeded staff meeting, now he was being told off for trying to dismiss said meeting, There was just no pleasing some people. "Fine. Is there any other news?"

"Yes Albus" here Minerva cast her firm gaze across the room, "I must remind you of you employment contracts' student confidentiality clause before I announce the following piece if information. I have notified that the Ancient and Noble house of Black has chosen an heir, and Sirius Black 6th year Gryffindor has been chosen to fulfil the spot. You are all aware of what that means I assume? Therefore Mr Black is allowed to leave school premises on the weekends as long as a member of staff is informed."

Silence followed this statement until –

"Sirius Black? Surely you jest Minerva – everyone knows that the boy will be passed over and probably disinherited when he turns 17"

Minerva fixed Professor Vector with her fiercest glare, "well it appears that everyone knows wrong. Sirius Black was invested as Black heir on Thursday, and is currently at a Black family meeting. Surely you have noticed your missing students Horace?"

Horace Slughorn looked surprised for a moment before comprehension dawned, "I had wondered what had happened, there has been something of a reshuffle within Slytherin this week, Regulus Black in particular was being sidelined – of course this explains why" he muttered to himself.

"What do you mean Horace?" queried Dumbledore

Horace fixed him with an odd look before scoffing. "Oh come now Albus don't expect me to believe you ignorant of the political manoeuvrings of Slytherin house." When no reply was forthcoming he sighed before explaining, "Slytherin house has a complex hierarchy of authority and influence. At the top you have wealthy pureblood heirs, followed by magical prodigies or persons of interest like promising quidditch players. These students rule the house and all other follow. I believe that the current leader is Lucius Malfoy, but only because of his engagement to Narcissa Black." Upon seeing the blank looks he was receiving Horace sighed again "the Malfoy family, although very rich cannot trace their heritage as far back as the Black family can, which means that the Black heir is almost always the Slytherin leader. It was assumed that Sirius would be disinherited once he turned 17, and then Regulus' place would be confirmed and he would jointly rule with Malfoy. However with what Minerva has said, Regulus won't be the Black heir which relegates him out of the top string as he won't inherit a title nor is he particularly academically brilliant or charismatic."

Looks of dawning comprehension appeared on the faces of many of the staff. "But, Horace, what of Harrison Peters?"

Slughorn frowned, "I'm not entirely sure; his grades and looks put him in the top tier, but his blood status and lack of a title should keep him from the top, but honestly I would guess that holds more power within the house than Malfoy, and I have no idea how he did it."

The staff sat in silence for a few minutes until with a nod to Albus Minerva left. At once chatter broke out –

"Sirius Black, can you believe it!"

"What was Orion thinking?"

"Why hasn't Walburga shown up to contest it?"

Finally Flitwick's voice rose above the rest, "It isn't really that surprising you know". The silence following that statement was deafening. "Well it isn't. As much as I disapprove of his behaviour Sirius Black got 11 outstanding OWLs, the highest in his year and he is clearly very magically powerful. Orion Black would be a fool not to recognise that."

Several members of staff grimaced at the reminder of the Black heirs outstanding results. After several more moments of chatter and grumbling the staff slowly dispersed and headed back to their quarters.

Finally Sprouts voice could be heard drifting down the corridor, "At least the marauders will have to tone it down a bit now – that has to be a plus!"

**Sorry about the wait - I know that it has been a really long time since my last update but my mother was diagnosed witha heart condition and well looking after her took priority. I haven't abandoned this fic. but updates will probably be slower now.**

**As usual all reviews welcome!**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

After a family meeting the Black family tended to exit the study into one of the manor's many reception rooms and would debate civilly the latest decrees and news. Any other behaviour would be totally unbefitting a member of such a distinguished pureblood line. Sadly however that Saturday in September the many members of the Black family forgot all about dignified behaviour and instead descended into the chosen reception room in a mass of screeching and caterwauling.

The only members of the family that retained any sense of pureblood decorum were ironically Andromeda and Ted Tonks as well as Alphard Black. Cygnus Black in particular was demanding loudly that his sister explain her husband's actions.

"How could you let him do this Walburga – this will ruin us! A mudblood in the family, polluting our centuries of clean bloodlines and careful marriages!"

"Really Cygnus you're over reaction" inserted Alphard "A bit of fresh blood won't do anybody any harm"

From the looks on the faces of everyone else in the room it was clear that they believed that his sanity was in question.

"Well at least the main line hasn't been polluted" muttered Melania Black

"And what is that suppost to mean!" spat Pollux Black

Melania smiled a rather nasty smile, "it means dearest Cygnus that although Andromeda is your eldest she would never be heir nor her offspring as Orion and his sons are the direct Black bloodline. In fact you have only enjoyed the influence that you have because Walburga was married to Orion, and it looks like that has waned. Face it, your line will end with you. You have only three daughters, none of whom will carry the name Black, Orion however has two sons, both of whom will retain the Black name. You have been superseded."

It was evident that Cygnus was not happy about this, and instead had to be escorted to a chair to sit down before he suffered an aneurism.

It was then Cassiopeia's turn to speak; "and what do we know about this Harrison Peters?"

There was silence as the young Blacks looked at each other.

Druella Black looked irritated, "well one of you speak up – you have been attending school with the boy for a fortnight. Who is he and what is he like?"

Finally it was Rodolphus Lestrange who broke the silence, "we don't know alot about him really."

Cassiopeia's look of irritation grew, "Idiot you must know something! Is he powerful? Is he gifted magically? What were his OWLs? Why join Hogwarts now? What are his manners like? What is his political stance? What is his standing in Slytherin House? Anything!"

This time it was Lucius Malfoy who responded, "He has 11 outstanding OWLs-"

"Like Sirius? In the same subjects?" interrupted Andromeda

"What are you blithering on about now girl! Sirius most certainly did not get 11 outstanding OWLs – he is an idiot!" barked Pollux scathingly.

Unsurprisingly it was not Walburga who came to Sirius' defence but Alphard, "Sirius isn't stupid despite you views Pollux, and Andromeda is correct, he did get 11 outstanding OWLs, everything except divination which he didn't take."

"That's all very interesting – but get back to this Peters" snapped Cassiopeia waving an imperious hand at Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius Malfoy gritted his teeth and continued in a controlled tone, "he has 11 outstanding OWLs , one in everything but divination. He takes NEWT potions, transfiguration, charms, arithmancy, ancient runes and DADA. He is very magically gifted – it is like he knows it all already. His manners are exemplary and his political stance unknown."

"That's not entirely true" interjected Narcissa Black "he dislikes the Dark Lord, believes him to be delusional and insane. But on the other hand he doesn't really like Dumbledore all that much either. I assume that he only supports himself".

Rudolphus nodded his agreement, "as for his standing in Slytherin, well that is difficult. He doesn't order people to do things, he just expresses his disapproval or gives you this look that makes you feel like a troll, and then you change your mind."

Silence descended on the room for a few moments.

"Walburga" asked Irma, "What did you do to get yourself put under house arrest."

The entire family looked on in interest here, being put under house arrest was a serious matter, and they all wondered what Walburga had done that Orion deemed bad enough to restrict her to Grimmauld Place.

Melania cackled "Oh she wasn't just put on house arrest, she's been confined to the smallest guest suite in the property and forbidden to leave. The house elves aren't allowed to answer her orders and her vault has been confiscated!"

Walburga flushed an ugly red colour at this, "I did nothing! Orion is being unreasonable!"

Alphard snorted, "Oh come of it Wally you've been balancing on the edge of being disciplined for years and we all know it, so own up. What did you do?"

Walburga shot him a venomous glare before straightening in her seat and replying, "I have no idea what you are talking about, I merely encouraged Regulus to be ready to be installed as Black heir and conveyed that decision to Sirius" she sniffed.

Alphard stared at her in horror, "Walburga! How could you! You have no say in who becomes Black heir, the choice has always been Orion's. Do you have any idea what you have done?" He turned to Narcissa, "Had Regulus told people that he would be the heir?"

Narcissa shifted uncomfortably "well...he implied that Sirius would be passed over when he turns 17 in January and that therefore he would be heir. He is in trouble with the house now. As you know the difference in standing between the Black heir and a only moderately talented second son is significant. People had done things for him on the basis of his claim that he would be heir. In fact if it weren't for Peters he'd be an outcast."

"Peters?" queried Cassiopeia "what has Peters done?"

Andromeda snorted, "isn't it obvious? Sirius has always loved Regulus, and if he and Peters are soulbounded then Peters knows this and so is going to protect Regulus from too harsh a back lash. Regulus is lucky Peters has so much influence."

No one disagreed with her.

"It isn't fair" screeched Walburga finally "Regulus would have been the perfect heir! Sirius is a Gryffindor and I don't care what his OWLs say, he's a thick as you get!"

Cassiopeia snorted, "I'd be careful if I were you Walburga, regardless of your opinions Sirius is the heir and that cannot be undone. That means that he is above you in standing, it would be wise not to upset and alienate him anymore than you clearly already have. Now I fancy a pot of tea, Kreacher!"

**Thank you for all the reviews and the positive support I have recieved, it is wonderful to know that people have enjoyed the story and are prepared to wait for it. I have one more chapter after this mostly written and hopefully posted by Friday. Until then enjoy!**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Sirius sighed and leaned back in his seat in the study as he watched his brother try not to fidget too obviously in his chair. He sighed, he had always regretted the gap that had been between himself and Regulus, but maybe he had been given a second chance, a chance to change things.

Finally the rather tense silence was broken by Orion, "Well Regulus would you like to explain?"

Regulus looked a tad bewildered, "Father?"

Orion gave his youngest son his best `Don't you play coy with me` look. This clearly did not have the desired effect as Regulus looked just as perplexed as before. Thankfully for the sake of Orion's sanity Peters chose to enlighten the hapless Regulus.

"I believe that Lord Black is asking you to explain to him why you attempted to establish a position within Slytherin house based upon the mistaken delusions of ascending to a position which you were not appropriately qualified." As he spoke Peters fixed Regulus to his seat with his eerie green eyes; the colour of the killing curse thought Regulus idly before remembering that he was suppost to be answering a question.

While Orion may have been grateful for Harrison's interjection Sirius was not. He had missed his husband and hearing his husband's silky voice coil around his brother in a deceptively cool way was not doing his self-control any favours. In fact if Ry wanted Sirius to remain in his seat and not launch himself at his husband in front of his father then Ry had better not say another word.

As Sirius tried to shift in a seemingly dignified way in order to hide his problem he sensed Ry's amusement through the soul bond, bastard. However luckily for Sirius while he had been...distracted... Regulus had come up with the answer to Orion's question.

Regulus gulped, he could either attempt to slither his way out of answering and almost certainly get caught, or tell the brutal truth. He took one look at those green eyes and his father's hardened gaze before deciding. Truth it was.

"Ever since I was little mother always spoke about how one day I would be Black heir, at first I ignored it, I mean it seemed like a dream, everyone knows that the eldest is the heir. However after Sirius ended up in Gryffindor and all but cut off contact with the family it seemed to be more likely, and mother was encouraging me at every turn and eventually I thought why not? Why shouldn't I have something? I mean Sirius is the most attractive one hands down, he's more magically powerful and more intelligent. At school he was more popular, better at quidditch and more charismatic, but he didn't act in the way that a pureblood heir should. Meanwhile in Slytherin if I slouched in my seat in the common room Narcissa or Bellatrix had written to Cygnus who told mother who sent me a letter reminding me of my duties, all while Sirius ran wild and unchecked. I felt caged in and eventually I thought if I have to behave as the perfect pureblood heir why shouldn't the title be mine? It wasn't as if Sirius needed it, his grades, looks and charm would get him anywhere. Me? If I wanted to be a someone in Slytherin then the claim to the title was all I had, so I at first implied that it might be mine, and somewhere along the way I said it would be mine."

Having finished his little rant Regulus deliberately slouched back in his chair, he didn't feel that it would make much difference now.

Orion stared at Regulus for several minutes before sighing and running a weary hand through his hair. "I'm sorry Regulus, I'd never seen it that way, but then I was always the eldest and bound to inherit. I never really thought of how it must be for you because I was always at the top of the food chain. I was always going to inherit and Cygnus knew that; he might have resented it, but he did accept it and act appropriately". Here Orion shot Regulus a hard stare.

Regulus quickly sat up straight. Still no slouching then, but he began to look hopeful, maybe his life wasn't over.

Orion continued, "I'm willing to put all of this down to a misunderstanding actively encouraged by your mother, but now you must change. You cannot pretend any longer. You will have to acknowledge Sirius as the heir, only privately for now, but publically in the New Year."

"I'm afraid that is not entirely correct" interjected Peters, "while the official announcement will not be until new year there are already rumours running wild throughout the school, and I believe a source inside Gryffindor has confirmed Sirius' ascension. Regulus does not have time to carefully back track. Evasive action must be taken immediately upon his return to Hogwarts, and even now it may already be too late."

Regulus grimaced his agreement.

"It'll be Longbottom you know, the source inside the tower." stated Sirius.

"Why?" asked Orion bemused. He could remember no quarrel between the Blacks and the Longbottoms apart from the traditional Dark/Light split.

This time it was Sirius' turn to grimace, "His uncle works at the ministry in the department of records and so found out about my ascension and owled Frank. It then turns out that Frank's parent's marriage is miserable, mostly because Augusta Longbottom had an affair with uncle Alphard several years back. Frank blames Uncle Al for his miserable home life and by extension the entire Black family. He'd jump at any opportunity to cause us trouble."

Orion sighed in irritation while Regulus once again goggled in disbelief.

"I always said that Alphards inability to keep it in his pants would cause us trouble one day. Maybe I should try and marry him off."

"You really think he'd remain faithful?" snorted Sirius in amusement.

Orion huffed in annoyance, "I doubt it, which is why incidentally he is still a bachelor, I knew that he'd break any fidelity clause in some highly embarrassing and public way and disgrace us all."

Regulus meanwhile was still in shock, "Augusta Longbottom? But she's suppost to be untouchable!"

Sirius shrugged idly, "I only know what James has told me. Apparently his mum, Aunt Dorea introduced them."

Orion sighed yet again, "That wouldn't surprise me, Dorea and Alphard always were very close, but I'll ask Alphard later just to be sure. But it probably is true, Alphard would sleep with anyone, and he likes it even more when there's a challenge involved, and Augusta Longbottom is certainly a challenge."

After sitting in comfortable silence for a few minutes they mutually agreed that they couldn't hide for much longer and exited the study to join the rest of their family in one of the many lounges. May Merlin help us all thought Sirius as he felt Ry's arm slip around his waist and they headed towards the inevitable interrogation they were sure to face; at the moment he was fairly sure that he'd rather take on the 17 mutant squirrels

**Thanks again for all the positive reviews. This will be the last chapter for about a week, I am away all wekend and then it is my first week back at Uni. However hopefully after that I should settle into a rhytham of about 1 chapter every week or so. Enjoy!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

There was a strange atmosphere at breakfast on Monday morning in Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In fact the Great Hall was almost silent and even the first years had begun to notice the whisperings, tension and furtive glances.

Indeed, it could also sadly not be said that the teachers in any way attempted to lighten the atmosphere. No, instead at least a quarter of the staff table had decided to goggle unabashedly at Sirius Black. Of those remaining at least another half were darting glances at the Black heir and the Slytherin table whenever they thought no one was looking. Sadly they were not as subtle about it as they seemed to believe. Even Dumbledore had lost his usual cheery smile, and instead his sharp blue eyes were also flickering between the marauders and the 6th year Slytherins.

Of course most people would not think much about the seating rearrangements at the Slytherin table, but Dumbledore was not just anyone. Indeed his calculating mind was frantically trying to work out the effect that these changes would have on his plan for the Greater Good. The Slytherin seating system was a relatively simple but effective one; the leader sat the furthest away from the head table, and after that everyone sat in decreasing order of status. Now on Friday Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black had sat in the top places closely followed by Regulus Black and then Bellatrix and the Lestranges a few seats further down again; inbetween there had been several other important purebloods, and Peters. Now however Harrison Peters had claimed the top position, and, more interestingly the seat opposite him remained empty. Dumbledore's mind was desperately calculating what that meant, did it mean that Peters ruled alone and that the other members of Slytherin were fighting it out to be his right hand man? If so, how on earth had Peters managed to usurp Malfoy?

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes in concentration, this all had to be related to Sirius Black somehow. Clearly Sirius being chosen had knocked down Bellatrix and thus the Lestranges as everyone knew that they didn't get on. No…wait…Rodolphus Lestrange had been demoted with Bellatrix, but Rabastan had not, in fact he seemed to have been raised a few places and was sitting next to Regulus Black, who somehow, miraculously, seemed to have managed, at least so far, to hold his position. Indeed they were only two seats down from Peters, prestigious places. How had they managed that? The only people closer to Peters were Lucuis Malfoy and Narcissa Black, neither of whom looked very secure in their positions. Avery had moved higher, between Narcissa and Regulus, and opposite him was Severus Snape much to Dumbledore's astonishment. Nott appeared to have been entirely relegated.

He sighed in frustration. He was missing crucial information. How was Peters linked to Sirius Black and just how strong was that connection?

He glanced back to the Gryffindor table where Frank Longbottom appeared to be trying to set Sirius Black on fire with his stare. That was certainly a new development, while the boys had never been close, they had never been rivals either to his knowledge. Furthermore he thought in irritation, glancing back to Severus Snape, if Peters was planning to keep that seat empty as a symbolic gesture to Black – unlikely but Peters was a total unknown – and if Peters had risen to power through Black's own ascension, then why had Snape been raised? It was no secret that Snape and Black loathed each other, in fact there were even bets on which one would murder the other first. Snape would never forgive Black and Potter for losing him Lily Evans, admittedly through his own actions.

No, Dumbledore's thoughts were getting him nowhere as the tension in the Great Hall continued to rise.

Finally the tension was broken through the arrival of the post. As people detached parcels and letters all of the Witch Weekly recipients gasped. There on the front cover of the magazine was a photo of Sirius and Orion Black and bizarrely Harrison Peters striding purposefully towards Gringotts in formal robes. The headline "Black Family Reconcilation and Betrothal?" added to the gasps and screeches echoing through the hall.

Of all the staff only Professor Sinistra received Witch Weekly, and the poor woman soon found ever pair of eyes at the staff table fixed on her with frightening intensity.

Dumbledore smiled genially "If you wouldn't mind reading that article aloud my dear? We would all enjoy hearing the latest gossip just this once I think". It wasn't really a question.

Professor Sinistra gulped.

"**Black Family Reconciliation and Betrothal **

_**by Betty Braithewaite**_

On Tuesday morning readers this reporter saw the most unusual sight of Lord Orion Black, Grand Duke of Blackmore and one of Britain's highest ranking wizards, current head of illustrious Ancient and Noble Black Family, entering Gringotts Bank in Diagon Alley with his estranged son Sirius Black, 6th year Gryffindor, and an unknown handsome young wizard. Upon entering Gringotts the trio were immediately greeted by a goblin and lead directly to Ragnok President of Gringotts himself! What business, readers, could be deemed so important by the goblins that they spent three hours locked away with the Head goblin? This reporter sadly cannot say, but after some digging can reveal this: the handsome young wizard in the photo above is Harrison Peters, a transfer student to Hogwarts. Not much else could be found about our elusive young Slytherin, except that he achieved a staggering 11 outstanding OWLs!

Furthermore confidential sources in the ministry have confirmed the appointment of a new Black heir, and we can surely expect an official confirmation in the New Year. Upon hearing this news no one was more shocked than I, as I had believed young Sirius Black notorious prankster and heartthrob to be permanently estranged from the Black family. Moreover what could have prompted the naming of a Black heir before his coming of age? Perhaps some dreadful illness has seized Lord Orion Black? We can, sadly only speculate.

But even more excitingly readers was another confidential source from within the Ministry's department of Marriages, Betrothals and Registrations telling me that a document had been filled under the names of Sirius Black and Harrison Peters, and even more shockingly, that it had not needed a parental signature! Readers this means that Sirius Black and Harrison Peters must be magically emancipated, but how did this occur? Sadly once again this reporter is unaware.

My final shock was that the document containing these two signatures had been validated by the Head of the Department of Mysteries, for what could these two young men have to do with the Department of Mysteries? But now I must apologise to the young ladies of Hogwarts who had hoped to gain the attention of the handsome young Black heir, as the document filed was none other than a registration of marriage! While many young purebloods are betrothed at 16, including Narcissa and Bellatrix Black, it is unusual to see any young pureblood married while both partners are still in school! However this reporter sends the young couple her best wishes and hopes that they have a long and happy marriage.

However I shall leave you with this question; who is Harrison Peters and how did he manage to entrance that Black heir so quickly?

By this point the entire hall had been listening. Their faces ranged from expressions of shock and confusion to outright disbelief. Sirius Black in particular looked like he was about to throw up.

The silence lasted for a few seconds before chaos descended up Hogwarts.

**Sorry for the delay - I'll tell the rest of the Black meeting in flashbacks as several people have complained that the storyline progression was too slow!**

**I have not abandoned this story - but my family are trying to cope with difficult personal circumstances at the moment, so updates will be slow. **

**As usual all reviews are welcome!**


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